


Lost In The Time Stream

by Leisey, wonderfulwizardofthozz



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Identity Reveal, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-03
Updated: 2018-06-24
Packaged: 2018-07-12 00:35:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 35,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7077178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leisey/pseuds/Leisey, https://archiveofourown.org/users/wonderfulwizardofthozz/pseuds/wonderfulwizardofthozz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An older Chat Noir jumped in front of a hit meant for his Lady. Now he's stuck in his teenage body and the present Adrien has been given a one way ticket to the future. How in the world were they supposed to get out of this one? Time travel AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I have no self control when it comes to this fandom. Please enjoy this time travel fic.

At twenty-six years of age, Adrien Agreste could safely say he had a good life.

Sure, there were some parts of it that were less than ideal: his missing mother and absent father would be two major points on the 'negative' side of his life. But for the most part, he could say he had a good life. He came from money so that had never been a problem, and once he had finally gone to a real school, he'd made some amazing friends.

Did he also mention the part where he was Chat Noir and got to save Paris with the love of his life every day?

The love of his life who he had finally found out was one of his amazing classmates when they were seventeen years old.

The love of his life that he'd been dating ever since then.

The love of his life who was now his wife of three years.

The love of his life who had given birth their beautiful daughter, Emma, a year ago.

The love of his life who was known as Marinette Agreste but was also the superheroine Ladybug.

The love of his life who had just tackled him out of the way of an enraged akumtatised villain.

"Urgh," he groaned, as he and his wife picked themselves off of the ground.

Still dealing with the Papillon _eleven years_ after being given their miraculous is something that could firmly be listed on the 'negative' side of his life.

The current akumatised person they were facing now clearly had time-related attacks. He had pale blue skin, which clashed horribly with his bright yellow jumpsuit. The suit itself was covered in pictures of numerous clocks, making it glaringly obvious what kind of powers the man possessed.

It was almost as obvious as the gigantic watch that was on the man's wrist.

Any guesses for where the akuma was?

"I am Father Time!" The man shouted. "And you will give me your miraculouses!"

"A time related villain," Chat said conversationally to his partner as they darted out of the way of blue energy beams. "I feel like we've done this before. Have we done this before?"

"We've done this before," Ladybug replied. "And if I recall, you nearly got erased from existence at that point and if you do that again, I swear to god, I will divorce you."

"So mean, my Lady," Chat laughed.

"I mean it, Chaton."

"I know you do," Chat replied, as he watched his Lady begin to swing her yoyo.

Before she could do anything, Father Time raised a hand towards her. "You've toyed with me long enough, Ladybug. Enjoy being lost in the most unstoppable force in the universe: time."

 _That doesn't sound good,_ Chat thought, before bounding forward to protect his wife.

" _TIME_ _STREAM_!" Father Time bellowed, shooting a ray of energy at Ladybug.

"NO!" Chat shouted, running forwards.

Ladybug just frowned in concentration, spinning her yoyo, reading it to either bat the beam of energy away from her or swing herself to safety.

Chat's protective instincts kicked in and he pushed her out of the way, taking the hit in her stead. He crashed to the ground, feeling a sting on his side where he'd been hit.

"CHAT!" Ladybug cried in alarm.

 _I'm fine, my Lady,_ Chat tried to say, except no words would come out. But he wasn't fine, not really. He felt sluggish and in pain. Everything started to go dark and his eyes wouldn't stay open.

"CHAT NO!" Ladybug shouted.

 _I'm sorry, Marinette,_ Chat thought _._

Then everything went black.

* * *

At fifteen years of age, Adrien Agreste could safely say he'd had a good life.

Sure, he didn't know what happened to his mother, his father was never around and he constantly smelt like cheese because of Plagg. Those were definite downsides. But for the most part, he had a good life. He was finally going to school, he had friends and he was _Chat Noir._

It was that last little point of being one of Paris's resident superheroes that got Adrien in more bizarre and sticky situations than he could count. He thought he'd seen everything. Egyptian gods, knights, video game fights, even an octopus monster at one point ( _don't_ _ask_ ). But apparently the powers of the miraculous could still surprise him.

Or perhaps more correctly, the annoying powers of the kwami that came with his miraculous could still surprise him. Why else would Plagg be making _baby_ _noises_ of all things, if not to wake him up and annoy him?

(Actually, Plagg being annoying shouldn't surprise him at all. Plagg loved being annoying).

Adrien woke up slowly, trying to blink the sleep from his eyes and work out why his kwami thought baby noises was a good idea when Adrien was tired out of his brain and just wanted to sleep.

"Plagg, _shut uuuuup_ ," he groaned.

"That's not your kwami, that's your _daughter_ , Adrien," said a new voice. "But I'm glad to see you're okay."

Adrien was fully awake in an instant, sitting up and scrambling to see a woman sitting on his bed. She had dark hair and blue eyes and in her lap was a little girl. A toddler with golden blonde hair and bright blue eyes.

The woman was beautiful, there was no doubt about that, except she looked like –

"… Marinette?"

She smiled, "I'm glad to see you're okay, Chaton. You scared me."

It was Marinette, but she looked older than the Marinette he knew. At least ten years older.

His eyes scanned the room as his sleep-clouded brain tried to process what was going on. However, that act just confused him more. This – this wasn't his bedroom.

This was nothing like the gigantic bedroom he had in his home. The one that was far too big for him and filled with stuff that Adrien barely used. This room was much smaller, and cosy. Filled with a large bed, chest of draws, a built in wardrobe with mirror and lead off into what he presumed was an ensuite bathroom. There was also an open door that lead out to what Adrien could make out was a lounge room.

"Adrien?" Marinette said, sounding concerned. "Are you alright?"

"Wh-what is going on?" Adrien managed to squeak out. "Where am I? Am I dreaming?"

Marinette looked worried. She turned towards the open door of the bedroom. "Tikki! Plagg!" She called out.

Plagg immediately flew into the room, following by a little red creature that could only be another kwami.

A kwami. A _ladybug looking_ kwami.

Adrien turned to Marinette. She was still holding the little girl, but she was staring at him with an increasing amount of worry in her eyes.

Her incredibly familiar eyes.

She had called him Chaton.

Only Ladybug called him Chaton.

"M-Marinette," Adrien croaked out. "Y-you're Ladybug?"

Her worried frown just increased.

And had she called that little girl in her lap his –

"Of course she's Ladybug, kid," Plagg said, flying up into Adrien face and distracting him from his previous thought. "You've known that for years!"

"N-no I haven't!" Adrien stammered and tried not to be totally floored by that information. "We don't know each other's identities!"

"Adrien," Marinette said, her voice sounding worried and tightly controlled. "Do you know who I am?"

"You're Marinette, right? You look like Marinette, but why are you old? I don't – I don't understand what's going on-"

"Do you know who this is?" Marinette interrupted and pointed to the little red creature that was floating by her shoulder.

"Is that your kwami? She has to be."

Marinette nodded. "That's Tikki," she said and the little creature gave him a wave, but she looked just as worried as Marinette did.

"I'm sorry," Adrien said. "I don't know what's going-"

"Adrien, how old do you think you are?" The little kwami called Tikki asked.

"I'm fifteen," he answered. "Why – I mean – I'm sorry, I don't-"

"And do you," Marinette interrupted him again; she was losing control of her tone now and Adrien was alarmed to hear that Marinette sounded incredibly upset. She cringed, shook her head, took a deep breath and continued speaking, gesturing to the girl in her lap. "So you don't know who this is?"

Adrien studied the little girl. She was exceedingly adorable. She had blonde hair, like his, and beautiful little blues eyes. She had been chattering nonsense to herself throughout the whole conversation he'd had with Marinette since waking, with a few recognisable words thrown in here and there. She seemed like a lovely little girl, but no, Adrien had never seen her before.

"No," he answered Marinette and saw a flash of pain in her eyes. "Should I know her?"

Marinette, his Lady (Adrien was still trying to wrap his head around that) hugged the little girl to her. "Her name is Emma," she said. "You call her your Little Lady. She's-"

But apparently the Little Lady decided to introduce herself, because she wriggled out of Marinette's grasp and held her arms up for Adrien to pick her up.

"Papa!" The little girl announced in a bright, happy voice.

Adrien wasn't particularly proud of what happened next.

He fainted.

* * *

 At twenty six years of age, Adrien Agreste was not happy to wake up in his fifteen year old body.

If you had mentioned time travel to him the day before, he would have said "Been there, done that," and probably would have started humming the _Doctor Who_ theme song. But now?

Now he just let out a string of curse words that would have caused his Father, Nathalie and most people who knew the mild-mannered Adrien Agreste to have a heart attack.

"Whoa, kid," Plagg said, floating up to look Adrien in the eye. "What's the matter?"

It took Adrien a long while to respond.

"I think, Plagg," he said eventually. "That I am in a lot of trouble."


	2. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *Hums the Doctor Who theme*

**PARIS**

**2016**

“So let me see if I’ve got this right,” Plagg said.

Adrien had just finished explaining to his kwami about how he’d landed in the body of his teenage self. He was sitting up in his old bed, in his old ridiculously large bedroom, in his old and just as ridiculously large house.

“So you’re Adrien, but you’re Adrien who is actually twenty six years old. From a future where you’ve married Ladybug, had a daughter, fought an akuma with powers over time and got sent into the past?”

“Pretty much.”

“Damn, kid,” was all Plagg said in response.

Adrien just stared at him. “… That’s all you’ve got to say? Come on, Plagg. You must know something we can do. I need to go back! To Marinette! To Emma! To my _home_!”

“Adrien, calm down,” Plagg said, sounding uncharacteristically serious.

“Calm down?” Adrien echoed. “Plagg, I am in the past! In a time where Marinette doesn’t know I’m Chat Noir and can barely say two words to me. A time where my daughter _doesn’t exist_. A time in which the akuma that caused this also doesn’t exist so there’s no way Marinette’s ‘Miraculous Ladybug’ can fix it. I am stuck here with absolutely no way of getting ho-”

Adrien was cut off by Plagg floating up to his face and offering him a slice of camembert. It brought a soft smile to Adrien’s lips. Plagg rarely offered someone else camembert. The fact that he was doing so now, while comforting and calmed Adrien down, also showed how serious the situation was that Plagg thought to offer it in the first place.

“Kid,” Plagg said. “We’ll get you home. I don’t know how, but we will.” Plagg paused, seeming to consider something before he continued, “I think it’s time for you to meet the Great Guardian.”

“Master Fu?” said Adrien. “I’ve met him before … well, I will meet him? I’m going to meet him? Argh! Time travel is hard.”

“Apparently,” Plagg said. “I’ve been around for thousands of years but I have to admit, this is new.”

Adrien nodded. “It’s all,” he paused and broke out in a grin. “Wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey.”

“I see you still like that show then?”

“We’re up to the Seventeenth Doctor now.”

“Spoilers.”

Adrien grinned, “Are you quoting it at me, or do you really not want spoilers? I know you, Plagg, you always want spoilers.”

Plagg sighed. “While I hate to be the voice of reason and I’m glad you’re no longer stressing like you were a minute ago, perhaps we should get back to the main topic?”

Adrien nodded, “You’re right. We need to-“

He was cut off by a knock at the door. “Adrien?” It was Nathalie, her voice muffled through the door. “Are you up? It’s not like you to sleep in. If you don’t get up, you’re going to be late.”

Adrien stared at the door in mild shock. God, how long had it been since he actually had his day planned and organised through Nathalie?

He missed his independence already.

“Coming!” He called, scrambling to get out of bed. “Sorry!”

Adrien rushed to have a shower and get dressed. When he finally got his things together, he paused by the door, allowing Plagg time to slip into his pocket. “Hey, kid,” the kwami said and from his tone Adrien could tell he was wearing a shit-eating grin. “Have fun at school.”

Adrien froze.

In his rush to get ready, he hadn’t really stopped to think over where he was going.

School. He was going back to school.

Now, Adrien would be the first to admit he loved going to school. He’d made friends at Collège Françoise Dupont, and he liked to study. But the idea of going back to school filled him with dread. Mainly due to the fact that it was filled with his friends _who were still teenagers._

Marinette would be there.

The Marinette he loved, but who was still painfully oblivious about who he really was.

And he couldn’t tell her who he was. She wasn’t ready for that revelation. Not yet. And now he had to go and pretend everything was fine around her and everyone else.

“Come on, Adrien,” Plagg prodded him into moving. “It’ll be fine. Come on, what does that Doctor you like say? _Allons-y_!”

“I’m French, Plagg,” Adrien muttered as he opened his bedroom door. “That quote is just our normal ‘Let’s go’.”

“Okay, Mr. Grumpy Cat, let’s go then.”

There was a pause and then –

“Thanks, Plagg. I’m glad I’ve got you with me.”

* * *

**PARIS**

**2027**

When Adrien came to, the adult Marinette was pacing around the room; Emma was on the bed beside him, happily playing with Tikki and Plagg, who flew around her head.

Marinette hadn’t noticed he had woken up; she just kept pacing and muttering to herself. “Okay, so he thinks he’s fifteen. That’s no big deal right? Right? It’s just that fifteen year old Adrien didn’t know I was Ladybug and we have to go through this whole reveal thing again. And does he have memory loss or is my Chaton in his fifteen year old body? The akuma said he’d be lost in time, is that what he meant? That just means I have to find the akuma, cleanse it, ‘Miraculous Ladybug’ it and everything should be fine, right? Argh! I’m going to skin that cat when he gets back!”

As she spoke, she kept waving her hands around. It was something that looked so utterly _Marinette_ that it brought a smile to Adrien’s face. He then turned his attention to the little girl who was beside him.

Emma. His daughter.

He had a _daughter_. The part of Adrien that wasn’t totally shell-shocked at the entire situation couldn’t help the sudden rush of affection he felt for the girl. A daughter. An adorable, cute, beautiful little daughter.

“You’re awake,” Marinette’s voice made him tear his eyes away from Emma.

Marinette had stopped her pacing and was looking at him with a strained smile on her face. “How are you feeling?”

“Uh, a little out of it, to be honest.”

Marinette nodded. “I’m not surprised.”

“Where am I?” He asked.

Marinette paused, as if considering how exactly to answer that question. “You’re in our apartment,” she eventually replied.

“Are we in Paris?”

She nodded once again, “We’d never leave Paris undefended, Chaton.”

 _Well, that’s true_ , he thought. _We wouldn’t leave the city unprotected if we could help it_. _Wait_ –

Adrien froze as his brain finally picked up on something she said.

Our apartment.

 _Our_.

As in belonging to _them_.

 _Future. Our. Apartment. Baby. Emma. Daughter. Marinette. Ladybug._ Our _._

(In any other situation, Adrien would have put the pieces together a lot quicker than he had. But in his defence, unexpected time travel would throw you for a loop.)

Adrien’s eyes darted to Marinette’s left hand. Two gold rings glistened on her finger: an engagement ring and a wedding ring.

He looked to his own hand. It looked older than what he was used to but that wasn’t important. What caught his attention was that a gold ring adored his finger.

A smile started to tug at Adrien’s mouth.

 _Future. Our. Apartment. Baby. Emma. Daughter. Marinette. Ladybug. Our._ Wedding rings.

He looked up at Marinette. “What is your last name?”

A blush appeared on her cheeks, “I think you know what it is, Adrien.”

“Please, I need to hear you say it,” he said, barely daring to hope that what he had dreamed about for so long had actually come true in his future.

“I’m Marinette Agreste.”

Adrien beamed at her. That meant that –

“Of course she’s Marinette Agreste,” Plagg said, floating up into Adrien’s line of sight. “Say hello to your stepmother, kid. I never knew Gabriel was into younger women, but there you go.”

Everything came to a screeching halt.

The hope, the happiness in his chest that _this_ was his future was snuffed out like a candle in the wind.

“W-What?” He stuttered.

There was no way. There was no possible way that – how could – _what_ –

“ _PLAGG_!” Marinette and Tikki shouted in unison.

The little black kwami burst into loud laughter. “Oh my camembert, the look on your face!”

“That wasn’t funny, Plagg!” Tikki scolded him.

Plagg simply continued to laugh.

“No camembert for a month,” Marinette said and pointedly ignored Plagg’s wails of protest. “Your kwami is a lying liar who lies,” she told Adrien, taking his hand. “I’m _not_ your stepmother.”

Both she and Adrien shuddered as they considered that thought. Adrien just felt a rush of relief. That meant that she was – she was –

“I’m your wife,” she continued, squeezing his hand. “I love you, Adrien. Whatever form you come in. Adrien, Chat Noir, or a fifteen year old Adrien in his twenty six year old body.”

Adrien felt like he was going to explode in happiness.

Was he even allowed to feel this happy?

Marinette, Tikki and Plagg studied him.

“Are you alright?” Tikki asked.

“You’ve gone quiet,” Plagg added, no longer crying about the injustice of being denied camembert.

Adrien laughed. A clear, joyous sound. “Marinette, it’s _you_ ,” he said. “This whole time, it’s been you. You were right behind me _this whole time_!”

Marinette smiled wryly. “Yes, you said much the same the first time you found out.”

“I – I love you! I always said it didn’t matter who it was behind the mask, but the fact that it’s you is incredible. Marinette, you’re amazing! I – I love you and I didn’t even realise!”

“Yes, you said something similar to that too.”

“I need to go back! I need to see my Marinette! – I mean you! – I mean, uh, Past-Marinette!”

“Whoa there, Minou,” she said, holding her hands up to stall him as Adrien went to rush out of bed. “While I agree that we should get this sorted as soon as possible. You need to rest. You still look a little out of it.”

“But-“

“We’ll fix this, Adrien, but first you need to rest.” She turned to Emma, “What do you think, Buglet? Do you think Papa should go night-night?”

“Night-Night!” Emma said in response, nodding.

Adrien couldn’t fight the smile that came on his face, “Buglet?”

Marinette returned the smile, “You of all people should know how inclined you are to giving people nicknames. She’s our Little Lady, but you also call me Buginette, so she’s Buglet.”

“Buginette and Buglet,” he repeated, mentally giving his future-self props for coming up with it.

“We have to be careful calling her that though,” Marinette said. “Secret identities and all. But everyone thinks we call her that because it’s just a cute nickname. You made the point of saying ‘Snug as a bug in a rug’ a lot when she was first born and we’d wrap her up in blankets, so they think we got it from there.”

Adrien laughed, “Snug as a bug in rug!” _Way to go, future me!_ He thought. _Why haven’t I thought of that one yet?_

Marinette let out a long suffering sigh. “Yes, Chaton, you’re hilarious,” she said sarcastically.

“Snug as bug wug!” Emma echoed.

Adrien continued to laugh, delighted. “That’s right! Snug as a bug in a rug!”

“Bug wug!” Emma chirped again.

“If she grows up to love puns, I blame you,” Marinette said.

“Ah, my Lady, you secretly love it,” Adrien instantly replied before freezing up. Was he allowed to say such things to her? It was so easy to fall into familiar teasing, flirting banter with her. But this wasn’t his Marinette. This was an older Marinette that he only knew a little of. This was a Marinette whose Adrien had gone careening eleven years into the past.

He looked down, lost in thought. He stared at his hands until Marinette once again put one in his and used the other to gently lift his chin so he would look at her. “I know what you’re thinking,” she said. “You’re thinking that I’m not _your_ Marinette. I know you’re thinking that because I already thought that you weren’t _my_ Adrien when you passed out.”

(Adrien’s cheeks burned at the reminder that he passed out earlier. The blush may have also had to do with the fact that a very beautiful Marinette – his apparent wife – was holding his hand and looking at him very intently. Adrien was inclined to believe that both reasons were responsible for why his cheeks felt like they were on fire).

“But we’re Marinette and Adrien,” she continued. “Ladybug and Chat Noir. We’re always going to support and love each other, no matter what happens.” She paused and Adrien briefly saw hurt flash in her eyes. “I won’t deny that it hurt a little bit, when you first looked at me like a confused stranger and couldn’t remember Emma. You’re right in the sense that it’s different. Your future self and I have over a decade of more memories with one another. And it hurt to see you look like him and talk like him when you don’t remember any of that. But it’s _okay_ , it really is. It’s like – it’s like – it’s like in _Doctor Who!_ ”

Adrien blinked at the sudden change in topic. _What?_

(He also logged away the fact that Marinette was a _Doctor Who_ fan; that was to be considered and presumably fanboyed over later.)

“Do you remember when River Song is first introduced?” Marinette went on. “She mentions seeing a photo of someone before you knew them but it’s like they’re not done yet. That’s you. I’m meeting you at the wrong point in time and I know all this stuff about you and you don’t know much about me.”

Adrien was silent and then, “… That makes sense.”

(Oh yes, Adrien was _definitely not_ mentally fanboying at the fact she’d explained a complex situation with references to one of his favourite shows. Nup. Not at all. No way.)

“Good,” she said, smiling. “Just remember that it’s _okay_. I meant it when I said I’d love you whatever form you came in. Don’t try and act differently, just be yourself.”

“Puns and all?”

She sighed and rolled her eyes but her smile was teasing, “Puns and all. Now get some rest, Chaton. We need to deal with this as soon as possible. Who knows what mischief my Minou in the past is getting up to?”

* * *

**PARIS**

**2016**

Adrien stood at the bottom of the stairs and looked up at the school.

 _Nope_ , he thought. _Nope, can’t do it. Nope. Nopenopenope. The stars are not in position for this tribute_.

“Come on, Adrien,” Plagg’s small voice piped up from his pocket. “Just walk in.”

“Stars. Can’t do it. Not today,” he replied.

Adrien could basically _feel_ Plagg’s confusion at that response.

(He really wished the kwami understood more of his references.)

His friends were in that building. Friends that were still teenagers. Friends that didn’t have eleven years of extra memories.

How was he supposed to act normal in this situation?!

 _Get a grip!_ He told himself. _You’re a superhero! You’re Chat Noir! You can deal with this!_

His silent pep talk did nothing to help with getting him up the stairs.

“Adrikiiiiiiiiiins!” A voice sing-songed from behind him.

Adrien stopped in alarm.

_Nopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenopenope._

If ever there was a motivator to go inside, it was escaping an overly affectionate Chloé Bourgeois.

“Uh, sorry Chlo!” He called over his shoulder. “I just have to go check someone before class! See you later!”

Adrien sped into the building. While Chloé had been his first friend and he had tried to maintain that friendship, he knew she was mean-spirited and their friendship had broken down in future years. Chloé adored him but had absolutely no time for Marinette. She believed her to be undeserving of being Adrien’s girlfriend and eventual wife and was exceptionally vocal about it. So now he barely saw the self-centred woman at all, something for which he was glad of. It was always a drama, dealing with Chloé.

He was also glad that she had lost her election when it came to becoming the Mayor of Paris. Much like how she had tried to become their class president all those years ago, Chloé had tried to bribe people into voting for her but it didn’t work. Instead, the Mayor of Paris in 2027 was a political savvy and determined Nadja Chamack.

(Adrien was also exceptionally glad he’d managed to lose Chloé so easily on the stairs. He didn’t want her draped all over him. He was a happily married man, thank you very much.)

Lost in his memories of the future, Adrien wasn’t quite paying attention to where he was going. He was so deep in thought he didn’t hear the tell-tale sound of footsteps running up behind him, or a familiar voice repeating, “Late! Late! Late!” He did, however, feel it when someone crashed into him from behind and sent them falling to the floor in an undignified heap.

Grunting in pain, he looked up and there she was.

Marinette was sprawled on top of him and groaning.

His wife. His cute, beautiful, brave, witty, talented, _ridiculously young looking_ wife.

She looked up and froze when she saw exactly who she’d run into. Her face turned bright red. “ _A-A-Adrien_?!”

Adrien went to speak but no sound came out.

“H-Hi, Marinette,” he eventually managed. “Are you alright?”

Well, not his best first line but he could work with it. Maybe. Hopefully.

“I’m so sorry!” She cried, scrambling to get off of him. “I – I – I was late running – _running late_! – and you’re fine – _I’m – I’m fine_! – I mean, are you okay?”

With the hindsight he now had, he knew she was only stuttering and babbling around him because she liked him. However, that didn’t really help him talk to her. He was struck speechless at her. His beautiful wife that didn’t remember anything they’d done, who didn’t know they’d had a daughter together, who didn’t know he was Chat Noir, who didn’t know the happiness that was in their future.

His silence must have concerned her. “Adrien, really, are you alright?!” She asked. “Oh god, I’m sorry!”

 _Say something!_ He told himself.

His brain didn’t relay that order to his mouth.

“Adrien?” Marinette said, looking steadily more and more mortified with the situation.

It was Plagg discreetly jabbing him from his pocket that knocked Adrien out of his daze.

“I’m okay, Princess,” he replied at last. “No harm done.”

A silence fell between them; Marinette’s face blushed violently.

“P-Princess?” She stuttered.

Adrien froze.

 _Ah shit_ , he thought.

This was the Marinette before she knew he was Chat Noir. Before ‘Princess’ became a nickname he could use both as Chat and Adrien.

And he was currently an Adrien who had never used that nickname to the present Marinette, _ever_.

He was struck by a sudden thought: _Could she work out I’m Chat from that?! She can’t! It’s too early!_

But Marinette didn’t look incredibly shocked and she didn’t look like there was any sudden revelation. She just looked surprised, embarrassed and her face was an alarming red colour.

(At any other time Adrien would have found the blush endearing. Now he was just silently wishing he could buy a ‘Time Travel for Dummies’ book so he didn’t make any more screw ups).

 _Someone help,_ he thought. _I think I just broke my future wife._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...Can you tell I like Doctor Who? Hahaha.
> 
> I totally reckon Adrien is a giant nerd who would love Doctor Who and Disney movies ... or that might just be me who loves them, but I'm making Adrien love them now!
> 
> I don't really have much to say about this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it though! Chapter two will be up eventually. I'd say my updating schedule is sporadic at best.
> 
> Please let me know what you thought in the comments. Or come and say hi over on tumblr. My username is khaleisey. :)
> 
> Thank you to everyone who has read and commented. You guys are great!
> 
> Much love,
> 
> Leisey.


	3. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Future-Adrien can't deal, Past-Adrien is smug and I put more references in this than is probably necessary.

**PARIS**

**2016**

Adrien stared at Marinette while his brain tried to work out something to say to her.

They were still on the ground where they’d fallen, and Marinette’s face grew steadily redder in the silence that grew between them.

He’d called her Princess.

He wasn’t supposed to call her Princess.

What was he supposed to say now?!

“Uh, sorry!” He eventually blurted out as he rushed to stand and help her up. “Sorry, Marinette, sorry. Let me help you. Uh. Hi. Hello.”

Oh dear Lord, he’d just waved at her.

He was supposed to be acting normal.

 _This isn’t normal,_ _Adrien_! He mentally shouted at himself. _Nervously waving at people isn’t normal._

“How are you? Are you good? I hope you’re good,” he babbled, pointedly _not_ commenting on the fact that he’d called her ‘Princess.’

 _Typical airbender tactic_ , his mind supplied for him. _Avoid and evade_.

(He really did have an unfortunate habit of thinking up quotes that applied to the situation at inopportune times; now wasn’t really the moment to be thinking up _Avatar_ quotes).

“I’m okay,” Marinette answered, although she still looked red. However, he considered it a win and that he’d successfully distracted her when she asked, “What about you?”

They’d covered this already, hadn’t they? Now they were just talking in circles. Marinette asking if he was okay was the whole reason he’d called her ‘Princess’ in the first place.

He laughed at the absurdity of the situation. They were both just standing there awkwardly asking if the other was okay. “I’m fine,” he said.

She looked at him in concern, clearly wondering what was so funny. “A-Are you _sure_?”

“I’m fine,” he repeated, a little too fast. “Fine. Fine. Totally fine.”

 _Oh my god,_ he thought. _Put down the shovel, Adrien, and stop digging yourself a hole! Quit while you’re behind!_

Adrien had briefly thought earlier that he’d broken Marinette, but apparently he was the one that was broken because he _could not shut up._

“I’m fine, really,” he said. “It’s just been a hectic morning. I’m a bit frazzled.”

(And wasn’t that an understatement.)

Marinette gave him a tentative smile, “W-w-well if you heed nelp – _need help_ – I’m here.”

He returned the grin, but he felt a little sad. _I know you are, my Lady, but you can’t help me with this._

“I know, thank you, Marinette,” Adrien said. “But come on, we’d better get to class.”

Marinette jolted, like class had been the last thing on her mind and she was only just remembering it. “Right,” she said. “Let’s go.”

* * *

Adrien had never been so thankful for class.

It meant he could just sit there, say nothing, and try and get his thoughts into order.

As soon as he had sat down, Nino had worriedly asked what was wrong but Adrien had just given him the same lacklustre excuse he gave Marinette: that it had been a hectic morning. Nino still looked worried, but he accepted what Adrien had said.

Pretending to take notes on what Ms. Bustier, Adrien wrote down all his thoughts on his time travelling situation. There wasn’t much on his page. He felt completely out of his depth. The main thing he wrote was: ‘SEE MASTER FU ASAP!’

What kind of time travel was he dealing with, anyway? If he was in his younger body did that mean he younger self was in his older one? Or did his younger self just cease to exist because he’d taken over his body?

Adrien shuddered. That was a morbid thought.

But how to fix it?

He didn’t have a time turner, he didn’t have a TARDIS, and he didn’t have a DeLorean. He had a grumpy kitten with a cheese addiction and a partner who didn’t actually know he was her partner.

(Not to mention he clearly freaked out when he saw her; they have that in common now. Neither of them can speak to one another.)

Adrien wrote all of his thoughts on the subject down, even if they didn’t really help; But seeing words such as ‘TARDIS’ and ‘time travel’ at least gave him the illusion of productivity.

The bell for lunch rang and frustrated, Adrien tore the page out of his book, screwed it up and threw it in the garbage bin. “I’m going to the library to study,” he told Nino.

His best friend still looked concerned, “You sure you’re alright, dude?”

Adrien nodded, “Yeah, I just want to do some more physics study. I’ll catch you later.”

Adrien waved at Nino, Alya and Marinette (who were still packing up their things) and fled from the room, all but running to the library. Once there, Adrien found a deserted corner and collapsed at a desk with a groan.

“You okay, kid?” Plagg asked, floating out of his hiding place.

“No,” Adrien replied, leaning face down on the desk. “I need an adult.”

“You _are_ an adult,” Plagg reminded him.

“No, no I am not. I don’t feel like one, I feel waaaay over my head. I need an adultier adult. I need an adult who knows how to time travel. I need Doc Brown, I need a Time Lord, I need –“

“Master Fu,” Plagg supplied.

“Master Fu,” Adrien agreed before going on, “I need to calm down and not freak out every time I see my friends, especially Marinette.”

“We’ll go and see the Great Guardian this afternoon,” Plagg said. “He’ll know what to do.”

“Hopefully, but even you said that you’d never encountered this kind of time travel before.”

“There’s a first time for everything, kid.”

Adrien sat up. “Well,” he said, sounding determined, “I’m not gonna mope about it anymore! I’m not gonna freak out. I’m gonna act normal, I’m gonna get this sorted and I’m gonna go back to the future!”

“…Adrien?” A new voice spoke up behind him.

Adrien froze and Plagg did a desperate dive to hide in his pocket. Adrien turned to see Nino standing behind him, a look of concern and confusion on his face. However, what caught his attention the most was the crumpled piece of paper Adrien had thrown out earlier that was now in Nino’s hand.

“I got this out of the bin, I thought it might have some clues as to why you’ve been acting weird,” Nino said. “You’re lucky _I_ got it. I saw Marinette eyeing it off, I had to get Alya to distract her. Adrien, man, what is going on? Who were you talking to just then? What’s this about time travel? Just – what’s going on? Can I help?”

Adrien’s brain short circuited.

He couldn’t think of a decent excuse.

He was talking on the phone? That piece of paper was a story idea? He was trying to write _Doctor Who_ fanfiction?

Nothing came out.

Instead, he just slammed his head back down on the desk and groaned.

* * *

**PARIS**

**2027**

Jumping around the rooftops of Paris was a familiar comfort to Adrien; an always enjoyable activity.

Continuously losing the akuma that sent him to the future was _not_.

Father Time was tricky, with an ability to stop time in order to run away from him and Ladybug.

They had gone through numerous Cataclysms, Lucky Charms and detransformed kwami recharges, but so far they hadn’t been able to capture Father Time long enough to get a good shot at his watch. They were certain that was where the akuma was, it was just proving exceedingly difficult to get at it.

“You know,” Chat said as he and Ladybug took a breather on one of their usual rooves to hang out on (Adrien had been pleased to see he and his Lady still sat there all those years in the future). “I’m really getting over this guy.”

“Me too,” Marinette agreed. “I think it’s time to call in reinforcements.”

He looked at her in confusion, “Reinforcements? You mean the police?”

She shook her head and took out her yoyo, “Not quite.”

“… Are you being _purr_ posefully vague? Or have you taken lessons from Plagg on how to avoid questions?”

Despite the situation, she laughed, “I’m not intentionally trying to annoy you by not saying anything. It’s just that I didn’t want to overload you with too much information all at once. You’ve had a fair few surprises since you woke up. Our ‘reinforcements’ would just add to that.”

Chat understood where she was coming from. She definitely wasn’t wrong when she said he’d had a lot of surprises: travelling to the future, identity reveals, marriage, Emma … But, really, what was one more surprise on top of all that?

“I can handle it,” he told her.

She nodded and then turned her attention to her yoyo. She frowned at it. “Neither of them are picking up.”

“Who’s ‘them’?”

“Tortue Verte and Volpina.”

Chat looked at her in alarm. “ _Volpina_?! The last time we dealt with her, you nearly gave your miraculous away!” Chat paused, suddenly thinking of something. “Hey, you wouldn’t happen to know where my book on superheroes went, do you? I’ve been tearing my house apart looking for that. If my Father finds out it’s missing, he’ll be really angry.”

Ladybug looked momentarily guilty. “I found it,” she said. “Well, technically Tikki found it, she’s the one who went diving into a bin to get it. But past-me gave it to Master Fu.”

Chat gaped at her. “You gave it away?! My Lady, if I don’t return that book-“

“Master Fu is the one who gave us our Miraculouses,” Ladybug said, cutting him off. “He’d been looking for that book for years. Any knowledge of the Miraculouses should go to him, or as Tikki and Plagg call him, the Great Guardian.”

“Then why did my Father have it?”

Ladybug was silent and looked lost in thought. “A conversation for another day,” she eventually replied. “But come on, we have to go to our reinforcements. They’re not answering, so they don’t know to come to us.”

Ladybug swung her yoyo and propelled herself up onto a roof; Chat followed her.

“Right, about that,” Chat said as they bounded over rooftops, going back to the original topic. “ _Volpina_?! Why is she our reinforcement when she was a really tricky enemy to fight the first time? God, that whole day was awful! I had to pretend I was in the shower for who even knows how long and then rush back because you insisted you had to check on me! And then I was just standing in my bathroom when all I wanted to do was open the door and be like ‘It’s me!’ but I couldn’t.”

Ladybug looked nostalgic, “Wow, that was so long ago. All those pre-reveal shenanigans.”

“It wasn’t that long ago for me.” He paused. “Wait a minute … if _you’re_ Ladybug, then why were you so angry at Lila? What was up with that?”

To his surprise, Ladybug blushed and stopped running over the rooftops of Paris. “Uh, well, past-me was very, uh,” she tried to explain, “intolerable of liars?”

Something clicked in Chat’s brain and a smirk appeared on his features. “Intolerable of liars,” he echoed. “You know, there’s another word that could be applied to that situation.”

“I’m not having this conversation again.”

“Come on, my Lady, it’s just one little word,” he said, his tone teasing.

Ladybug groaned. “Save me from the stubbornness of Chats!  Even after all these years, you’re still harping on in smug satisfaction about the ‘Lila Incident’, then past you comes along and does the same thing.”

“Did you just quote _The_ -“

“I was jealous, okay?” Ladybug said, bulldozing over what he was going to say, sounding defensive and very much like she’d had that particular conversation numerous times. “I was jealous because Lila was so much better than me. But Chaton, I have just one word for you: Copycat.”

The smug grin disappeared from Chat’s face. There was a silence. “Touché,” he eventually replied. “But my Lady, you never had to worry about Lila. I’ve always loved you.“

“Yeah, I know that _now_ ,” she said with a smile. “Hindsight and identity reveals are great things. But fifteen year old me didn’t know that. You were Adrien Agreste: Kind, beautiful, and woefully out of my insecure reach.”

Despite her smile, Chat looked at her with a sinking heart, thinking of his Marinette in the past. “Is that really how you felt?”

Ladybug froze, as if she didn’t realise her words would have that effect on him. “Although it wasn’t for a lack of trying, mind you,” she said. “I tried to confess _numerous_ times. It just never happened. I was painfully shy. You would always try and talk to me, though. Always try and include me.”

“So what changed?”

“I did,” she answered, looking lost in memories. “My feelings didn’t, but how I interacted with you did.”

“What do you mean?”

“I didn’t continue trying to win your heart. I just tried to be your friend. You had numerous admirers, fangirls, fanboys, Lila, _Chloé_ ,” she said, with a grimace at mentioning the Mayor’s daughter. “But you never had too many close friends. I endeavoured to be one of them. I got to know you, I stopped stuttering, I found out how much of a dork you are-“

“Hey,” he protested indignantly. “It’s totally fine being a dork.”

“I fell in love with you all over again,” she went on, causing Chat’s breath to hitch in his throat and a blush to burn his cheeks. She paused and turned to smile at him, “I’m not going to say anything else. Spoilers and all that. It’s a long story that can’t be told, has to be lived-“

“Okay, now I _know_ that you just quoted-“

“However, going back to our _original_ point,” she said, cutting him off. “We’re not going to find Lila. We’re going to find the one who has the Fox miraculous. The _true_ Volpina.” She paused and broke out in a smile, “And her husband, Tortue Verte.”

Her smiled widened and there was a particular glint in her eyes. Like she knew something he didn’t and couldn’t wait until he found out what it was.

“They’re wonderful people,” Ladybug continued. “They baby sit Emma for us all the time.”

“They do?” Chat asked in surprise.

Ladybug nodded. “We look after their kids too.”

“We do?”

She nodded again. “Yep. They love their Uncle Adrien.”

“They know who we are?”

“Yep,” she repeated. “We’re all very close. You’re especially so with Verte, although you do like to call him Michelangelo, much to his chagrin. He prefers to be called Leonardo.”

Chat digested that overload of information. “So which one is he more like?” He eventually asked. “Michelangelo or Leonardo?”

Ladybug contemplated the question for a while.

“I’d say he’s more of a Donatello.”

* * *

**PARIS**

**2016**

Nino somehow convinced Adrien to let him take him home.

They’d given a poor excuse to Marinette and Alya, stating that Adrien didn’t feel well and Nino was going to make sure he was okay. But considering how strange Adrien had been acting all day, it probably wasn’t that hard to believe.

When they were finally in the safety of Adrien’s room (and Natalie had been placated after stating that Nino wouldn’t stay long and Adrien would rest), Nino practically exploded with questions, since Adrien had refused to answer any until they were home.

“Dude, what’s going on?! What’s this about you coming from the future?! Are you just kidding with me? Is someone going to jump out with a camera? Are you _Punk_ -ing me right now?” He paused and looked at Adrien’s stricken expression. “Holy shit, you’re not kidding! You’re actually from the future! How did you even get here?!”

Adrien rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “Uh, well, you see…” He trailed off, trying to think of a way to explain the situation without outing himself as one of Paris’s superheroes.

Nino sent him a flat look, “Dude, I can’t help you if you don’t tell me anything.”

“But, well, you see…” Adrien tried again, pacing anxiously around his room while Nino sat on his lounge, patiently waiting for Adrien to explain.

“Oh, just tell him, kid,” Plagg said, floating up out of Adrien’s pocket. “He’s going to find out eventually anyway.”

“ _PLAGG_!” Adrien cried, mortified, and tried to catch the kwami out of the air.

(Nino, for his part, just stared dumbfounded at the floating little creature).

“You can’t just reveal yourself like that!” Adrien scolded, still trying to catch the kwami. “You’re the one who said I couldn’t tell anyone in the first place! Don’t break your own rules! This isn’t how it happened the first time! What if this changes the future?! What if there’s a butterfly effect?!”

(Damn butterflies, they always had to be a pain in the arse.)

“Dude,” Nino said. “What is that?”

Adrien stopped his frantic attempts to catch his kwami and sighed. “I swear to all the Miraculouses, Plagg, that if we get back to the future and it’s destroyed, or Emma doesn’t exist, or Marinette doesn’t know who I am-“

“Wait, Marinette?” Nino interjected, catching onto a familiar name.

“I swear you will never eat camembert again,” Adrien finished. He turned to Nino. “It’ll be easier just to show you. The cat’s out of the bag now anyway.” He couldn’t help smirking at that last statement.

“Huh?” Nino looked absolutely lost.

“Plagg, _transformez moi_!”

There was a flash of green light as the transformation took hold. Moments later, he was standing in front of Nino as Chat Noir.

His best friend just gaped at him.

“ _No way_!” Nino breathed awe in awe.

Chat shrugged, “Yes way,” he said, before dropping the transformation. There was no need to keep it up now that Nino knew.

“ _Dude_.”

“I know.”

“That is _awesome_!” Nino cried, jumping up off the lounge in his excitement. “You’re Chat Noir! You’re a hero!”

“Nino! Not so loud!” Adrien shushed him. “Other people can’t find out.”

“So that’s how you got sent back in time? Cause you’re Chat Noir and you got hit by an akuma? How far in the future have you come from? And seriously, what is that little, talking cat thing?”

“Uh, eleven years-“ Adrien started to answer Nino barrage of questions.

“ _Eleven years_?! Dude, you’re, like, an adult! Is it weird seeing all of us looking super young?”

Adrien nodded, “Yes, it’s really weird, which was why I was freaking out and acting all weird at school. And yes, that’s how I was sent back in time. I protected Ladybug from an akuma, got hit and woke up in my fifteen year old body.”

Some of the excitement disappeared from Nino’s face. “It kind of sucks you still have to deal with akumas eleven years in the future.”

“Don’t I know it,” Adrien replied. “You’re preaching to the choir there, man.”

A determined expression appeared on Nino’s face as he sat back down on the lounge, “So what do we do?”

Adrien drew breath to answer, but was interrupted by a whine from Plagg: “Adrieeennnnn, cheeeeeese!”

Adrien rolled his eyes and went to grab a wheel of camembert out of his bag. He unwrapped it and sat it next to Nino on the lounge. “There. Try not to get it on the lounge this time.”

Nino looked at the cheese beside him, shrugged, and pulled a piece off for himself. “So that’s why you always sort of smell like cheese,” he said as he popped it in his mouth.

Adrien raised his eyebrows at the display and looked at his kwami, wondering how Plagg was going to react to someone taking his cheese.

Plagg frowned and floated up until he was in Nino’s line of sight. “My name is Plagg the Kwami,” he said seriously. “You ate my camembert. Prepare to die.”

“Wh-what?” Nino asked through a mouthful of cheese.

Adrien let out a long suffering sigh. “Enough, Plagg,” he said. “Eat up quick. We need to go see Master Fu.”

“Master who?” Nino asked.

“Master Fu, the Great Guardian. He’s the one who chooses who gets to wield the Miraculouses. I wouldn’t be Chat Noir if he didn’t think I was worthy.”

“He sounds important,” Nino said.

Adrien nodded, “He is, and hopefully he’s my ticket home.”

* * *

Nino didn’t listen to Adrien’s protests when he said he could go see Master Fu alone. The DJ firmly stated that he said he’d help and that’s what he was going to do, even if that included going to see a mysterious Miraculous-giving old man.

When Adrien finally decided that arguing with Nino was pointless, he spent the rest of the trip to Master Fu’s explaining who and what Plagg was, and how he helped him become Chat Noir. They’d gone on foot and didn’t use Adrien’s driver because they didn’t want anyone to know where they were going.

(Plagg had been sour towards Nino after the camembert incident and didn’t warm up to him until Nino stopped at a corner store halfway to Master Fu’s and bought the kwami two whole wheels of cheese. Plagg adored Nino after that, but Adrien knew it was all just for show. Plagg in the future had mentioned that he liked and respected Nino for being the first one to befriend Adrien at school; Adrien had to agree with his kwami on that one).

Nino had also brought up a point that Adrien honestly had never thought of before.

“I don’t get your masks,” Nino said.

“What do you mean?”

“When you blink, you don’t see your eyelids, your mask covers your eyes – I noticed it in your room – how does that even work?”

“Huh?” Adrien asked, taken aback by the bizarre question.

“Think of a normal mask, right? It has holes in the material for your eyes to see through and when you blink or close your eyes, your eyelids would be seen. With yours, your mask covers your eyelids, so when you shut your eyes, it’s just fully black. No eyelids. What’s up with that?”

Adrien stopped walking as he considered what his best friend had said, and then he burst out in loud laughter. “Oh man, eleven years and no one, not even the future you, has ever commented on that. I don’t know the answer, man, but I’m putting it down to kwami magic.”

He kept laughing and Nino joined in as they continued walking, their conversation light and amusing as they made their way through Paris. Adrien was happy to see that despite him having over a decade of extra memories, he could still hang out and have fun with Nino. His best friend was still his best friend, despite their now being a large mental age gap.

So while his trip was enjoyable in that regard, Adrien was a bit nervous by the time they reached Master Fu’s. What if the Great Guardian didn’t know how to get Adrien home? What was he going to do then? He pushed those thoughts out of his mind as they reached Master Fu’s massage shop. Master Fu would know what to do. He had to.

When the familiar voice bid then enter, Adrien couldn’t help but feel excited at the thought of seeing his old friend, despite his nervousness.

He and Nino entered, with Plagg riding on his shoulder. Master Fu was sitting on the floor, looking every bit like he’d been expecting them to come and had been waiting for them to arrive.

(Knowing the wise old man, he probably had.)

He looked up at them.

“Hello, Chat Noir,” he said, and Adrien nodded respectfully at him.

Fu turned his attention to Nino, who was looking at the man in surprise and recognition.

“And hello, it’s nice to see you again, Tortue Verte.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who else loves the idea of Turtle!Nino? Cause I sure do. Although I really struggled trying to think of a name for him, but then I figured that if the show can literally call one of the main characters 'Black Cat', then I can get away with 'Green Turtle.'
> 
> Anyway, please let me know what you thought in the comments and thank you for reading! :)


	4. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Future-Adrien still can't deal but he gets some answers and Past-Adrien gets a surprise.

**PARIS**

**2016**

To be fair, Adrien had only seen bits and pieces and an alternate ending of the movie _The Butterfly Effect_. However, the general idea that he did get from that film was that you _didn’t mess around with time._

So yes, he was nervous when Plagg suddenly decided to reveal him as Chat Noir. But that wasn’t so bad, right? It wasn’t that big of a change, right? Nino just found out a little earlier than planned, that’s all. Surely it wouldn’t have that big of an effect on the time stream.

Master Fu revealing to Nino that he was Tortue Verte _years_ ahead of when it should have happened was a _whole other level_ of messing around with time.

Nino had been given the turtle miraculous when they were eighteen, not fifteen. This – this wasn’t right. This was so completely not right at all. This was wrong.

Adrien stared mortified at Master Fu while Nino just looked at him in confusion.

“You’re the old man I helped up the stairs the other day!” Nino said in recognition. “But what do you mean ‘Tortue Verte?’”

Master Fu held out his hand, in which there was the turtle miraculous. “I am giving you a choice, young man. To continue as you are, or to be a hero.”

Adrien shook his head. This wasn’t how it happened. What was going on?

“Uh, what?” Nino said, confused.

“What are you doing?” Adrien asked, his voice pained and confused. “Master Fu, _stop_.”

Nino looked at him in concern. “Adrien, what-“

“This _wasn’t how it happened_! What – what are you _doing_?!”

Master Fu stood up, “I understand your concern, Adrien, but circumstances have changed.”

Normally Adrien treated Master Fu with the utmost respect. The old man was, as his name would suggest, a master of anything Miraculous related. He was like a walking encyclopaedia on the subject. Aside from that, Adrien had always felt a level of gratitude towards the man for allowing him to become Chat Noir and experience a level of freedom he never had as the ordinary Adrien Agreste.

However, Adrien had been through a lot in the past twenty four hours: an akuma battle, accidental time travel, going back to school, seeing his young friends and equally young looking wife, being outed as Chat Noir to Nino (thanks, Plagg) and now with Fu revealing that Nino was a miraculous holder – years ahead of when it should have happened – something inside of Adrien snapped.

“I’ll say circumstances have changed!” He exploded. “Nino wasn’t supposed to be chosen until three years from now! It was one thing for him to find out I’m Chat Noir, but this is a huge difference! What if this has irreparable damage to the future?! What if it _changes_?! Marinette and Emma mean everything to me! I can’t lose them!”

“Wait, Marinette?” Nino interjected, once again picking up on the name of their friend. “You mentioned her earlier. And who’s Emma?”

“You’re not supposed to mess with time!” Adrien went on, ignoring Nino. “You’re not supposed to change things! Don’t change things! Our future is happy. Don’t – don’t take that from me.”

All of the fight went out of Adrien and he sat down on the floor, curling up so he could wrap his arms around his legs and rest his head on his knees. His face was hidden, but he still let out another, muffled, “Don’t take that from me.”

Frustrated tears welled in his eyes as he felt Nino sit down beside him and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. “Dude, you okay?” His best friend asked.

How could he even begin to answer that question?

Well, with the obvious answer: NO.

No, no he was not okay. He was in the godforsaken _past_ , he was worried he’d never get home, he was worried that any changes he made would have a terrible effect on the future, he was worried his wife and daughter wouldn’t be there when – if – he got back. He was one gigantic ball of worry and the complete opposite of okay.

He raised his head and blinked the tears out of his eyes. Adrien could tell that Nino was surprised at seeing him have such a meltdown, but he disregarded his best for the moment. He was focused on Master Fu and the question that was burning in his mind. One little word, but Adrien needed to hear the answer: “ _Why_?”

“You say that your friend wasn’t given his miraculous until much later,” Fu said. “But I’ll state it again: circumstances have changed.”

“Whoa, _what_?!” Nino interjected. “You can’t be serious about giving me-“

“Nino, _please_ ,” Adrien cut him off beseechingly. “I need to know why he wants to make such a drastic change. I need to know why he’s running the risk of altering the future.”

“But why are you so tense?” Nino asked, genuinely confused. “I mean, yeah, I get that changing the future is bad, but what exactly are you so worried about? You look like you’re trying to drill holes into him with your eyes.”

Adrien sighed and turned to Nino. “I’m worried about my wife and daughter,” he said.

“You’re wife and _WHAT_?!”

“Nino,” Adrien grumbled. “Not so loud.”

“Sorry,” Nino said. “But you’re _married_?! You have a _daughter_?!”

“Well, yeah,” Adrien shrugged. “I know I don’t look like it right now but I’m actually twenty six, it’s not that weird.”

“I know, man, but – just – _dude_!”

“Emma’s nearly two,” Adrien said, smiling fondly as he thought of his little girl. “My Little Lady.”

“Wait,” Nino said, looking thoughtful. “You said that Marinette and Emma meant everything to you.” He paused as he put the pieces together. “DUDE! YOU MARRIED MARINETTE?!”

Adrien grimaced at the loud volume of Nino’s voice. “God damn it, Michelangelo, not so loud.”

“Michel-what?”

“Yes, I married Marinette,” Adrien went on, with a decidedly love-struck look on his face. “I love her.”

Nino disregarded the Michelangelo comment and instead smirked at his best friend. “Dude, you’ve got it baaaaad. Oh man, can you imagine Present-Marinette’s reaction at hearing that? She’d probably faint!”

“She can’t know!” Adrien said quickly. “That’d be another change to the time stream! We didn’t find out each other’s identities until we were seventeen!”

Nino looked confused; Adrien froze when he realised what exactly he accidentally revealed.

 _Shit! Fuck! Damn it! Shitshitshit,_ he mentally cursed.

He wasn’t supposed to say that.

God damn, he was letting loose more secrets than Hagrid in the _Harry Potter and the Philosopher Stone_ movie.

‘I shouldn’t have told you that’, indeed.

And Nino wasn’t an idiot. He could basically see the wheels in his friends turning as he put it together.

Nino looked stunned. “You … Are … KIDDING!”

“Well … No.”

“Marinette is Ladybug?! Dude, that’s awesome! Now that you say it, it makes perfect sense. You know, like why she’s absent and tired all the time. But, just, oh my god!”

“Yeah-“

“When Alya finds out, she’s gonna flip!”

“Yes, yes, Marinette is my Lady, and Alya is not going to be finding out soon because that would be another change to the time stream that I am not risking,” Adrien said. “Which brings me back to my original point,” he turned his attention to Master Fu. “Why is Nino getting chosen now? It’s too early.”

“As I said earlier, the circumstances have changed,” Fu said. “Time is in a state of flux.”

“Then why are you trying to change it?!” Adrien demanded.

“ _Adrien_ ,” Plagg admonished, speaking up for the first time since they arrived at the massage shop and sounding uncharacteristically serious. “Just let him explain.”

“The future is already changing,” Fu went on. “You merely being here, Adrien, is proof of that.”

Adrien tensed in panic. “So Marinette and Emma. They’re not –“

Fu held up a hand to stall Adrien’s fearful questions. “Your wife and daughter are fine. However, the time stream is unstable and won’t return to normal until you’re back in the future.”

“What does that have to do with giving Nino his miraculous early?” Adrien asked.

“Uh, about that-“ Nino tried to interject.

“We’ll get to you in a minute, kid,” Plagg told Nino, not unkindly. “But if Adrien doesn’t get all the answers, he’ll lose his mind.”

“In the original timeline, you hadn’t come from the future so there was nothing wrong with the time stream,” Fu explained. “Now, however, the timeline is unstable and all of time is affected. Affected, specifically, by an akuma.”

Argh, this was starting to make Adrien’s head hurt.

“What does the akuma have to with it? Besides sending me to the past?” Adrien asked.

“The dark energy of the akumatised villain from the future-“

“Father Time-“ Adrien said.

“Father Time,” Fu said, nodding in thanks at being given the name. “Its energy is spreading across the time stream. Specifically targeting individuals with a similar energy. In other words: other akumatised villains.”

“Which means?”

“It means there is a possibility of past and future akuma villains you’ve defeated appearing in the present, or in the future from which you came from,” Master Fu said gravely before turning to Nino. “This is why I’m giving you the choice to become Tortue Verte. I am too old to join the fight, you, however, are young, capable and deserving of the position.”

“All I did was help you up some stairs,” Nino said, sounding dazed.

Master Fu gave them a wry smile. “I always keep an eye on the ones I have chosen, including those who they have befriended. If I’m not mistaken, you were Adrien’s first friend at his new school, were you not?”

“He was,” Adrien answered, thinking back to the day Nino became his friend.

“You have a good heart and have always tried to help your friends. You were even akumatised for that, were you not?”

Wordlessly, Nino nodded.

“You are kind and worthy,” Fu said. “You need only to accept it.”

This wasn’t how it happened in the original timeline. Hell, Adrien wasn’t even there when Nino was given his miraculous. Much like with him and Marinette, Nino had helped Master Fu and then gone home to find a box waiting for him.

While he was happy for his friend and relieved that this change didn’t mean anything had happened to Marinette or Emma, Adrien was still burning with questions. “But Master Fu, are you serious?” He said. “We’re actually going to have to fight past akuma victims, plus ones Marinette and I have defeated in the future?”

“Or ones that you haven’t even faced in your future,” Fu replied. “As I said, _all_ of time is affected, so you could be faced with akumas that you’re unfamiliar with, even with your many extra years of experience.”

“How – how do you know that?” Adrien asked. “How did you know something is wrong with time? How did you know I was from the future?”

“It has always been the responsibility of the turtle miraculous holder to be the Guardian of the miraculous,” Fu said.

Nino looked like he really, _really_ wanted to speak up and ask a million questions, but he held it in and let Fu speak.

“As such,” Fu went on, “The Guardian is tasked with learning the lore of the miraculous, and choosing the next generation of heroes. However, one power that that I have learnt along with the lore of the miraculous is being able to sense energies. The moment you arrived from the future, Adrien, I was able to sense that something had happened to you. Your energy signature was still your own, but it had changed. You were still you, but you were different.”

Adrien frowned as he tried to take in everything Fu was saying. He had never mentioned having such an ability in the future. Sure, he’d been able to heal kwamis with energy, but being to sense his energy had changed? From a distance as well? Was he trying to say he was like a chakra sensor from _Naruto_?

(If Master Fu started shouting out “Kage bushin no jutsu!” or “Rasengan!”, Adrien wasn’t really sure what he’d do.)

“Sensing energies is important,” Fu continued. “I can heal kwamis that way, as I am sure you have experienced in some point in the future, Adrien?”

Adrien nodded silently.

“Furthermore,” Fu said, “The ability of sensing energies allows me to sense if something is wrong with the time steam. The turtle miraculous has always been linked to the concept of time.”

“What do you mean?” Nino asked, unable to hold in his questions and undoubtedly interested seeing as though he was the one being offered the miraculous they were talking about.

Adrien, with his knowledge of the future, had an idea of what Fu meant. But he simply watched and listened as the Guardian explained.

“Do you know how Chat Noir and Ladybug use Cataclysm or Lucky Charm?” Fu asked Nino.

His best friend nodded. “Yeah, they’re like special powers, right? And their miraculous starts running out once they’re used.”

Fu seemed pleased at Nino’s show of knowledge. “Exactly. Tortue Verte’s special power is linked to time.”

“Like when Alix got akumatised and she could time travel?”

“Not quite. When your friend time travelled there was two of her-“

“Ah, two Ladybugs,” Adrien said, smiling at the memory. “Younger-Me thought he was in heaven.”

“Yeah, forget how you were nearly erased from existence,” Plagg grumbled. “Focus on the fact there were two Ladybugs there.”

Master Fu disregarded their input and continued explaining the turtle miraculous’s power to Nino; although, Adrien was certain he could see amusement shining in the older man’s eyes.  “It is more like how Adrien here has been sent to the past. You send your soul, your essence, back in time to your past body. It is known as ‘Rewind’ and can only be used to go back two minutes at best. However, the turtle miraculous comes with a second power, once again linked to the concept of time.”

“’Limbo’,” Adrien said.

“Limbo?” Nino repeated, frowning in confusion.

“We don’t mean the party game,” Adrien clarified.

Master Fu nodded. “Limbo can be defined as ‘an intermediate, transitional, or midway state or place,’” he said, sounding like he was rattling off a dictionary definition. “This is what the power does. It freezes the time of those around you while you can move freely. It puts you in a state of limbo, for while those around you are frozen, your actions can change the outcome of whatever situation you may be in. These are the two powers of the turtle miraculous and both will result in you needing to power down after using them.”

“But why do I get two powers?” Nino asked.

Adrien, Plagg and Fu didn’t miss how he said ‘I’. Like Nino had already made the decision to take the miraculous, but hadn’t realised it yet.

Adrien shrugged. “My Lady has two powers, ‘Lucky Charm’ and ‘Miraculous Ladybug,’” he said.

“The holder of the turtle miraculous has always had a knowledge of the time stream. One needs it in order to utilise those abilities,” Fu said. “That was how I knew you had come from the future, Adrien.”

“You could sense a disturbance in the Force?” Adrien asked, a small grin tugging at his mouth.

Fu looked amused, “Of a sort, yes.” He turned to Nino, once again holding out the turtle miraculous. “I’ve explained some of your responsibilities, your powers and the threat you are currently facing.  So I will ask again: do you want to continue as you are, or do you want to be a hero. Will you take up the mantle of Tortue Verte?”

Silence reigned in the massage shop as Nino stared at the miraculous.

Nino hesitated before a determined expression filled his features. “If it’s to help my friends and my city,” he said, sounding serious. “I’ll do anything.”

He reached out and took the miraculous from Fu. Nino held it in his hands, staring at it, before Fu speaking up forced him to tear his eyes away from it.

“Very well,” Fu said, sounding pleased. “Since you have accepted there is someone that you need to meet.”

A green blur flew towards them from wherever he had been hiding in the shop; Adrien grinned at the sight.

Nino’s eyes widened as the little, turtle like kwami flew to a stop in front of his face.

“Hello, my new Master,” the kwami said in his small, but distinctive voice. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. My name is Wayzz.”

* * *

**PARIS**

**2027**

“Hey, Mari, Little-Adrien,” Nino said as he opened the door to them.

Adrien stared open mouthed at the older version of his best friend, “ _Nino_?!”

Nino, like Marinette, had aged well. He’d grown taller, broader and his hair seemed longer, but he still wore his glasses and hat. He was dressed simply, in jeans and a t-shirt but Adrien was surprised to see that his signature headphones were absent from around his neck.

Adrien couldn’t help but gape at him.

“Hey dude,” Nino said, “Look at you, looking all old but being all young.”

Adrien looked at Marinette in confusion. She’d led him across Paris and then insisted they de-transform before leading them into an apartment building and knocking on an average looking door. Of all the people to answer, he hadn’t expected Nino. This just added to his confusion because –

“I thought we were going to see-“

“Why don’t you come in?” Nino said, cutting him off and stepping aside so Adrien and Marinette could enter.

They trooped inside and Adrien found himself in the lounge room of a homely looking living room. You could tell Nino lived there because there were CDs and records everywhere, a huge sound system, a turn table, and numerous other DJ-ing equipment that Adrien honestly didn’t know the name of.

Despite that, Adrien was bursting with questions. But before he could even begin to ask them, a new voice spoke up.

“Look how confused he looks! Girl, you didn’t _tell_ him?”

Adrien turned to see an older Alya walking out of a room connected to the lounge room. “ _Alya_?!”

Alya had also aged well, but she looked much the same as the always did. Same reddish-brown hair, same beauty mark, same intelligent hazel eyes behind black glasses. Like Nino, she was dressed simply, jeans and a simple white t-shirt. Her expression, however, was much like Marinette’s was before she took him there: like she knew something he didn’t and couldn’t wait until he figured it out.

He looked at Marinette, Alya and Nino, who were all staring at him expectantly.

The gears in his brain worked furiously to work it out.

Marinette said she was taking him to see Volpina and Tortue Verte.

Then she took him to Alya and Nino’s.

(There would be sometime in the future where he could freak out and be excited about them still being together later, right now wasn’t really the time).

But if they were going to meet their ‘reinforcements’ and then came here, that would mean that –

“Oh my god, it’s you guys!”

The others laughed as Adrien put it together.

“Got it in one, Chaton,” Marinette said.

Two red and green blurs zoomed out of the kitchen that was connected to the lounge room and floated up to Adrien to introduce themselves.

The green blur said, “Hello again, Adrien, I’m Wayzz.”

Adrien studied him. Light green, antenna and a tiny turtle shell. He could be nothing but the kwami for the turtle miraculous. “H-Hello,” Adrien said as he tried to get over his surprised. “Nice to meet you.”

Adrien turned to look at the red blur that accompanied Wayzz from the kitchen. A dark, reddish-brown colour with a white underside, much like a fox, and a red tail that ended with a white tuff. Reddish-brown ears were on the top of their head, the tips of their hands – paws? – were dark brown and they had glowing, hazel eyes.

“Hey,” the creature said in a feminine tone of voice. “I’m Kupii!”

“Hello,” Adrien replied. “Nice to meet you.” He paused awkwardly. “Sorry, I’m just trying to take this all in.”

“That’s okay,” Wayzz said kindly, “it is a lot to take in a once. You’ve had a lot of surprises lately.”

“Uh, yeah, I guess I have.”

“Is it true you fainted when you found out you were a dad?” Kupii asked.

Adrien turned to Marinette, scandalised, “You _told_ them?!”

Everyone laughed.

“Well, I had to tell them what happened,” Marinette said, “and it just sort of came out.”

Adrien blushed while Alya scolded her kwami, “Kupii, I know Adrien is your favourite person to tease, but cut him some slack.”

Adrien eyed the kwami in question. “You like to tease me, huh?”

Kupii grinned mischievously, “Well, foxes are notorious tricksters, you know.”

“Speaking of tricks,” Piped up Plagg. “Hey Kupii, guess what I told Adrien when he woke -”

“Okay,” Adrien said, cutting off his kwami. “We don’t need to relive that, thank you.”

Plagg and Kupii whined in protest but Adrien ignored them. Instead, he turned to his friends and asked, “What do we do about Father Time?”

A contemplative silence grew around them; it was Nino that spoke up and broke it.

“Before we do anything,” he said. “We need to have a little discussion about the time stream.”

* * *

 

**PARIS**

**2016**

After Nino got aquainted with Wayzz (and after convincing the little kwami not to call him Master), he had the turtle miraculous around his wrist and was ready to try transforming for the first time.

“It’s really easy,” Adrien said. “Just repeat after me.”

“Repeat after you. Got it.”

“Moon prism power, make up.”

“Moon prism power – _Adrien_!”

Adrien laughed loudly. “Oh man, you actually fell for it!”

“ _Dude_.”

Adrien’s laughter died down. “Okay, okay. I’m sorry. Wayzz, would you like to teach him the words?”

“Repeat after me, Mast – er – Nino: _transformez moi_.”

“ _Transformez moi_?”

Wayzz got sucked in to the miraculous and in a flash of light there stood Tortue Verte.

Adrien had seen Nino transformed many times before, but it was still impressive. His suit was a dark green. Like Adrien, he had boots, however his were capped with a lighter shade of dark green than the rest of his suit, instead of Adrien’s silver. A dark brown utility belt hung at his waist, complete with pockets in which to store things. He had matching brown gloves on his hands, with metal plating on the back. His glasses had disappeared, replaced by a dark green masked, tipped with a lighter green around the edges, that matched the tips of his boots. On his wrist was his miraculous and perhaps most striking of all was the large turtle shell attached to his back.

“Duuuuuude!” Nino said as he studied himself.

“Looking good, man,” Adrien said.

“Yes, most impressive,” Master Fu agreed.

“Chat Noir still looks better,” Plagg said.

“Don’t be such a sour puss, Plagg,” Adrien said.

Nino felt the shell on his back and then turned to Adrien in shock. “Dude, I have a shell! Dude, I can see without my glasses!”

“That you do, Michelangelo, and that you can.”

 “Oh come on, I’d totally be Leonardo!”

“The shell comes off,” Master Fu told him. “You can use it for defence and for attacking.”

“Kind of like Captain America and his shield,” Adrien put in helpfully.

Nino looked delighted. “ _Awesome_!”

“Your miraculous will let you know how close you are to powering down,” Fu said.

Nino glanced down at the miraculous. A picture of a turtle was shown on it with its shell made up of lights.

“When the lights on the shell disappear, your transformation will undo.”

“Got it,” Nino said, frowning on centration as he tried to remember everything they told him.

“When you are in Limbo, the miraculous will also tell you long you have left until the people caught in it will revert back to normal,” Fu said. “It’s a timer of sorts.”

Nino nodded. “Timer, right.” He paused and then asked. “How do I get around?”

“What do you mean?” Asked Adrien.

“Well you and Ladybug have a yoyo and a staff to get you around Paris? How do I do that?”

Fu smiled, “Think the word ‘up.’”

“Up?” Nino repeated, but whatever else he was going to say was cut off by a shout of surprise when he suddenly shot up off the ground and floated in mid-air.

“Oh my god!” He yelped. “I’m floating!” He moved to the left in mid-air. “Oh my god, I’m moving! I can float! I can fly!”

Fu chuckled, “Yes, the turtle miraculous comes with the power of flight.”

“ _How_?!” Nino demanded, as he began to tilt in the air. “That doesn’t make sense.”

“The Ladybug miraculous comes with a yoyo, mine comes with a baton and we’re fighting a bad guy that sense butterflies to turn people into villains,” Adrien said with a shrug while Nino let out noises of protest as he continued to tilt in the air. “Sense doesn’t really factor into it.”

Nino had turned so much that he was floating upside down. “Fair point,” he said, “But – uh – little help?”

Adrien laughed and turned his friend so he was the right way up. “There you go.”

“Thanks,” he turned to Master Fu. “Uh, how do I get down?” But as soon as Nino had mentioned the word ‘down’, his feet were already touching the floor. “Oh.”

“It’s a mental thing,” Fu told him. “You think it and it will happen. You just need to practice.”

“How do I undo the transformation?”

“Again, it is a mental thing.”

Nino closed his eyes and within seconds there was a bright flash of light and Wayzz came popping out of the miraculous. Nino caught him in his hands. “Well done, Master – er – Nino,” the kwami said.

Nino gave him a small smile, “Thanks.”

“Wayzz is right,” Fu said. “You did well. How do you feel?”

“I still feel a little unsure about it all. I don’t really think I’m worthy to be a superhero. But if I can help my friends, I will.”

“Thanks, man,” Adrien said, holding his hand out for a fist-bump. “And I know you’ll do great.”

Nino returned the fist-bump but he still seemed uncertain, “I don’t know…”

“Hey, you’re talking to someone from the future here. You’ll be great, no doubt about it.”

Nino smiled, “Thanks, Adrien.”

Fu smiled at them both. “It is good that your bond is so strong. I fear you will need such support in the days to come. However, there is one more thing I wanted to speak to you about.”

An uneasy feeling grew in Adrien’s stomach. “What is it?”

Master Fu was silent for a moment, as if he was judging how they were going to react before he spoke.

“You need to tell the Present-Ladybug that you are from the future.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all like my attempt at turtle!Nino and I hope you liked Kupii too. Her original name was Vupii, but I thought that was a little too close to Volpina, so the 'Ku' part is a little nod to Kurama from Naruto (I am Naruto trash, as you can gather from the references I put in this chapter).
> 
> Also, if anyone has seen the show 'Misfits', the power of 'Rewind' is essentially like the one Curtis has on that show. 'Limbo', like I explained, is just freezing a pocket of time that Nino can move around in.
> 
> Anyway, I'll stop rambling. Thanks for reading and please tell me what you thought in the comments!
> 
> Much love,
> 
> Leisey.


	5. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Past-Adrien finds out about the time stream, Future-Adrien and Nino bond and Future-Adrien can't keep his damn mouth shut.

**PARIS**

**2027**

“So let me just check if I’ve got this right,” Adrien said. “You’re telling me that you two are Tortue Verte and the true Volpina, we’re going to have to face past _and_ future akuma villains, who won’t go away until Father Time is defeated, I’m back in the past and Future-Me is back in the future – uh – present? – uh – now?”

“That about sums it up, dude,” Nino replied, while Marinette and Alya just nodded.

“And you know this because you’re the holder of the turtle miraculous and this Master Fu guy has been giving you lessons on how to sense the time stream?”

“Yep,” Nino said.

Adrien nodded, “Okay. I think I got it. Was there anything that I missed?”

“You forgot to mention that Past-You is going to be dealing with the same thing because all of time was affected,” Alya put in.

Adrien groaned, “Okay, was there anything _else_?”

Marinette shook her head, “No, that’s it.”

Adrien looked relieved, “Good. So, what do we do?”

Marinette looked determined, “We work together, we find and beat Father Time, we cleanse the akuma and we get both kitties back to their proper time.”

“So we kick ass and take names?” Alya said. “Same as always, then?”

“Same as always,” Marinette agreed.

The four friends shared a smile before calling out to their kwamis’.

“Tikki!”

“Plagg!”

“Wayzz!”

“Kupii!”

“ _Transformez_ _moi_!” The four of them chorused.

The light from their transformations engulfed Alya and Nino’s apartment. When it faded, they were all standing there in their alter-egos.

Adrien gaped at Alya and Nino. “You guys look _awesome_!”

Alya looked the same as Lila had done when she’d been akumatised. Her fiery hair matched the oranges and whites of the outfit perfectly. Nino, however, was the one that really held Adrien’s attention. After all, it was the outfit Adrien was the least familiar with.

“What are your powers?” He asked.

Tortue explained his Rewind, Limbo and flight powers before Volpina spoke up. “I can cast illusions, have super strength and fly,” the blogger said. “My special power is ‘Oblivion.’”

“’Oblivion’?” Chat echoed. “That sounds … epic.”

Volpina snorted and held up the flute she was holding. “It’s not that epic. I play on my flute and it confuses the target. The soundwaves mess up their mind. Makes them have no idea what’s going on. It puts them in a state of oblivion, hence the name.”

“Still epic,” Chat said. “Although I didn’t know you could play the flute.”

Volpina laughed again. “I couldn’t. You should have heard me when I first got my miraculous, I sounded awful. It took a lot of practice. But I got it down in the end, and now I’m on badass, trickster superhero.”

“Alya and I are good at distracting the bad guys,” Tortue told him. “We distract them, slow them down, you guys come in with your Chat Noir and Ladybug awesomness and it’s bye-bye akuma.”

“Now we just need to beat Father Time,” Ladybug said. “The sooner we get both Adriens’ back to their correct time, the better. I’m getting worried about my Adrien. I bet he’s freaking out in the past.”

Tortue and Volpina nodded in agreement while Adrien frowned in confusion. “Why would he be freaking out?” He asked. “Wouldn’t it be easier being in the past? Like, he’s done it once, he can do it again?”

His three friends didn’t say anything and shared a worried glance.

(Elsewhere, eleven years in the past, the Older-Adrien felt the sudden desire to hit his younger counterpart up the backside of his head.)

It was Tortue that spoke up in the silence that followed Adrien’s question.

“Oh my sweet summer child,” his best friend said, sounding sad. “You’re the lucky one in this situation. I don’t envy our Adrien one little bit.”

“What do you mean?” Adrien asked, suddenly feeling uneasy.

Ladybug put a hand on his shoulder. “Imagine you’ve suddenly landed in the past,” she said. “Everyone you know is suddenly super young, your – your daughter doesn’t exist anymore, and you’re faced with the possibility that if you change the timeline too much, it could have negative repercussions on the future.”

“Not to mention that the time stream is in a state of flux and he doesn’t know if his future is going to be the same when he gets back,” Volpina put in. “He’s probably terrified he’s going to lose us – Marinette and Emma especially – because he makes a mistake.”

Chat looked down, feeling horrible for even suggesting his older-self had it easier. “I didn’t realise. That’s awful.”

“It’s okay, man,” Tortue said. “You accidentally time travelled to a future you don’t know. I can’t blame you for thinking it would be easier back in the past where things make sense. For now, we just need to beat this akuma and get this back to normal.”

“And do it by four,” Volpina chimed in.

“And, yeah, do it by four,” Tortue agreed.

“What happens at four?” Chat asked.

“We need to pick up our son, Thomas, up from his carers,” Volpina answered.

Chat gaped at them, “Whoa, _WHAT_?! You guys have a son?! Why am I only hearing about this now?!”

“Because he wasn’t here when we got here and Nino had vital information about the time stream to tell us before we did anything else?” Ladybug suggested.

That made Chat Noir pause. “Well, yeah,” he said. “But why didn’t you tell me before now?”

“Remember when I said I was trying not to overload you with too many surprises at once? Well, Thomas was one of them.”

Chat nodded. “Right. Okay. Fair point.”

Chat had a million more questions and he was sure Alya, Nino and Marinette hadn’t told him everything, but for now there was an akuma to deal with.

 “So,” he said, taking a deep breath and putting his fist out for a fist-bump. “Shall we go find Father Time and save the time stream?”

Ladybug, Volpina and Tortue Verte all reached in to tap their fists together, looking determined.

They had an akuma to beat.

* * *

**PARIS**

**2016**

“Master Fu,” Adrien said, “I'm trying to be mature and not immediately shoot down your idea, but it sounds _really_ terrible. Why am I telling the Present-Marinette that I’m from the future?”

“Isn’t it kind of obvious, dude?” Nino piped up. “Time stream’s in a state of flux? Past and future akumatised villains coming to kick your cat-suit-clad-and-ladybug-spotted butts?”

Adrien shot Nino a ‘You’re-not-helping!’ look. “Just because the reason is obvious, doesn’t mean the idea of telling Marinette the truth sounds any less terrible.”

“Marinette needs to be told of the situation and the cause,” Fu said. “It would be unwise to keep the truth from her.”

Adrien sighed, “Fine, but I’m not telling her I’m me.”

“Why not?” Nino asked.

“It’s one thing to tell her that I’m from the future, but to tell her I’m Adrien? No way. I don’t want my future wife to spontaneously combust before she can even become said wife. Plus, that risks the time stream.”

“You may find that Marinette’s reaction will surprise you,” Master Fu put in.

“And isn’t the time stream already at risk?” Nino added. “What more harm could you be doing? If anything, you’re just giving you and Marinette more time to be happy with one another.”

“Yeah, kid,” Plagg said. “Why not tell her? Her reaction would be hilarious.”

Adrien couldn’t deny the appeal of letting his Lady know who he was earlier than it happened originally. But his mind turned to Emma, his Little Lady, his Buglet, and his resolve strengthened.

“I’m not telling her I’m me,” he repeated. “I won’t risk my future with her. I won’t risk _Emma_.”

“I do not believe your future will change as dramatically as you think it will,” Fu said.

“All the same, Master Fu,” Adrien said. “I’m not risking it. I’ll tell her I’m from the future, I’ll tell her the repercussions of that, I’ll introduce her to Tortue Verte, but she won’t find out that I’m Chat Noir.”

Fu nodded. “Very well,” the Great Guardian said.

“I still think you should tell her,” Nino said. “But if you won’t, then I’ll keep your secret. I won’t tell her who I am either.”

“Knowing my Lady and how she is about secret identities at this stage in life, she won’t want to know who you are anyway,” Adrien said. “But thanks, man.”

“No worries, dude,” Nino replied. “But I still have some questions about this whole Tortue Verte thing.”

“What is it you wish to know?” Wayzz asked, floating up so he was in his new master’s line of sight.

“Well, what’s the catch?”

“Catch?” Wayzz repeated in confusion.

“Yeah, the catch,” Nino said. “I mean, I get offered the chance to be a superhero? There has to be some sort of downside.”

Adrien and Master Fu shared a glance. They both immediately thought of the same ‘catch’ that came with the turtle miraculous.

Nino paled, “Oh God, what is it? Is it bad? It’s bad, isn’t it?”

Adrien nodded for Fu to speak; he would explain it better than Adrien could.

“Young man, how old do you think I am?” Fu asked Nino.

Nino frowned at the unexpected question. “Uh, I don’t know?”

“I am one hundred and eighty six,” Fu told him.

Nino’s eyes widened and his jaw dropped in surprise. “Shut. Up. No you’re not,” he said, his tone incredulous.

“Yeah, he is,” Adrien said when Nino turned to his friend for confirmation.

Nino just looked dumbfounded. “There’s no way – you don’t look – what?”

“The holder of the turtle miraculous is granted a longer lifespan than those who wield the other Miraculouses,” Fu explained.

“W-What?” Nino stuttered out.

“Like a turtle, the miraculous wielder can live to well over a century old. I am living proof of that,” Fu went on. “Furthermore, it is the duty of the turtle miraculous holder to become the Guardian of the Miraculouses. To learn their lore, to choose, train and assist the next generation of heroes. Then, eventually, to pass on the mantle to the next Tortue Verte.”

“I’m – I’m going to outlive all my friends and family?” Nino asked. “Everyone I love?”

Fu looked grave as he replied, “Yes, you will.”

Adrien looked down, knowing how much his friend had suffered with learning the same thing in the future. Nino had come to terms with it, but he wasn’t looking forward to watching all his loved ones pass on while he outlived them all.

“That’s _awful_!” Nino exclaimed. “I don’t want that!”

“It might not happen,” Adrien said, knowing what he was going to say wasn’t really going to help. “None of us really know when we’re going to die.”

Now it was Nino’s turn to shoot him a ‘You’re-not-helping’ look. “And surprisingly, the morbid thought that I might die before you didn’t actually cheer me up,” he said sarcastically. “Thanks, dude, for that wonderful contribution to my day.”

Adrien couldn’t help but cringe, “Sorry.”

“Is there any other bad news, while we’re at it?” Nino asked.

“You’re slow,” Adrien told him.

Nino frowned, “Excuse me?”

“When it comes to movement, you’re slow,” Adrien elaborated. “You might be able to fly and have cool time powers, but you’re slowed down by the big shell. You’re not as fast the rest of us.”

Nino sighed, looking displeased. “Great,” he muttered.

“Now knowing what you do,” Fu said. “Will you still take up the mantle of Tortue Verte?”

Nino looked dubious, like he was wondering if Fu was ever going to him of the downsides before he agreed to wear the miraculous and be a hero. But then he stubbornly set his jaw and spoke up, “I said I’d help and I will. I’ll be Tortue Verte. As for the other stuff … Well, I’ll deal with it when the time comes.”

Fu smiled, “A most mature response from you, Young Nino.”

Nino managed a wane smile, but Adrien could tell it was forced; Fu’s revelation had really thrown him.

Time for a distraction.

“Come on, dude,” Adrien said. “Let’s go get some practice in for you and find Marinette while we’re at it.” He turned to Master Fu. “Unless there was anything else you wanted to speak to us about?”

Fu shook his head, “By all means, go out and find Ladybug.” He turned to Nino, “Get used to being in the suit and working with Wayzz. As they say, practice makes perfect. I am sure you will do wonderfully.”

Nino nodded before suddenly thinking of something. “Wait, wait, wait,” he said, sounding alarmed. “The turtle miraculous isn’t like the Philosopher’s Stone in _Harry Potter_ is it?! I’m not going to take it and then you’re just going to die of old age, are you?!”

While Fu looked like he was confused at the reference, a smile graced his face. “I thank you for your concern, but no, I’m not going to pass away simply because I no longer possess the miraculous. I have several years on me yet. I will, however, ask you to take good care of Wayzz. He has been my companion for many years.”

“Master,” the green kwami said, looking at Fu. “It has been a pleasure being by your side for all this time.”

Fu smiled, “It is not goodbye forever, Wayzz. The new Guardian needs to be trained, after all.”

The kwami returned the smile, “I look forward to it.”

Fu then turned to Adrien, Nino and Plagg. “I will be here whenever you need me, especially with this current situation with the time stream. If you need anything, do not hesitate to find me.”

“We will,” Adrien promised, knowing how helpful the master was in a tight situation.

“Catch you later, Old Man,” Plagg said.

“A pleasure as always, Plagg,” Fu returned.

Nino glanced from his new miraculous to the man who gave it to him. “Thank you,” he said sincerely.

“You are most welcome and deserving,” Fu replied.

“Goodbye, Master Fu,” Adrien said.

“Goodbye, Adrien, and good luck. I know you’ll make it back to your correct time.”

“Here’s hoping,” the time traveller said as he started to leave.

“Until next time,” Fu said as he watched them troop out of his shop and onto the Parisian street. “Best of luck to you all.”

* * *

“Plagg!”

“Wayzz!”

“ _Transformez_ _moi_!”

He and Nino transformed in a deserted alley near Master Fu’s shop.

“Now what?” Tortue asked him.

“Now,” Chat replied. “We get you used to flying around Paris and then we go find my Lady. School should be finished soon anyway.”

“Oh yeah,” Tortue said. “School. After everything that’s gone on today, I forgot about it.”

“Trust me, that happens when you’re a superhero. For now though, let’s focus on getting you to the top of that building.” He pointed to the building they were standing next to in the alley.

Tortue looked up at it, suddenly seeming nervous. “I don’t know, man. That seems pretty high.”

“Come on, Michelangelo, I know you can do it!” Chat encouraged.

Tortue’s response was soft but he definitely heard the word ‘Leonardo’ in there somewhere.

“Come on, dude. Just do what you did in Master Fu’s shop and think ‘up.’”

Just how it happened before, Tortue suddenly starting floating off the ground. “Oh my god,” the new superhero said as he rose up.

Chat grinned as he watched his friend go higher. “That’s it,” he said, before getting his baton and extending it so he rose in the air, making sure he kept himself level with Tortue.

“Show off,” his best friend muttered.

Chat laughed, “It’s just practice.”

Tortue then make the mistake of looking down and seeing how far he’d gone up in that short amount of time. “ _Holy_ _shit_!”

“Dude, it’s okay,” Chat said soothingly. “You’ve got this.”

Tortue started to wobble in mid-air as panic started to set in. “I don’t ‘got this’! I _do not ‘got this’_! Holy shit! Fuck! Damn it!”

“Dude, it’s okay,” Chat repeated. “Look, we’re at the top now.”

Tortue Verte looked and, sure enough, they had reached the top of the building. Chat Noir slipped off his baton and onto the roof with practiced ease, returning the staff to its normal size and putting it back on his back, where it always was when it wasn’t in use. He then turned to his friend, ready to lend a helping hand if it was needed. He was greeted to the sight of Tortue floating – wobbling – over the buildings edge and stumbling as he landed on the roof.

“See, man?” He said. “Your first landing and you didn’t even fall over. You totally got this!”

Tortue didn’t pay him any mind. Instead, he was sitting on the roof (well away from its edge), looking down at his feet and was muttering to himself. “Oh my god. I just flew onto a roof. I floated onto a roof? What even is my life? Holy shit that was high. Oh my god. I’m a superhero. Holy shit. Holy shit. Hooooly shit.”

Chat walked over to him and put a comforting hand on his friends shoulder. “Hey, it’s alright,” he said. “You’ll get better with practice. But come on, stand up.”

“Nope,” was Tortue’s immediate response.

“Dude, come on.”

“Nope.”

“Dude,” Chat repeated, before pausing and continuing with one word: “ _Nino_.”

At the sound of his name, his friends head shot up.

“Don’t get used to that,” Chat said. “We’re not supposed to use real names in the suits. But come on, stand up and see the world like Ladybug and I do.”

Chat Noir held his hand out and after a small moment of hesitation, Tortue Verte took it. Chat helped him to his feet and then gestured to the view of Paris that they had from the rooftop. “Isn’t the city beautiful?”

Despite his earlier apprehension, Nino had a look of awe on his face. “It’s amazing!”

“Yeah, it is,” Chat agreed. “And it’s up to us to protect it and the people in it.”

Tortue’s expression changed to one of nervousness. “Do you really think I can do this?”

“You wouldn’t have been chosen if you couldn’t. You can do this, and one day you’ll be the one choosing the next miraculous holders.”

“That seems like a long way off. I could barely get up to this roof.”

“It will be,” Chat said. “But one day Master Fu will be like, ‘Young Nino, you have learned well. From this point forward, you will be known as … _Nino_.’”

Tortue laughed and shoved Chat to the side. “You are such a dork.”

“Aw, come on, you love that movie!”

“You’re still a dork.”

“Well you’re best friends with this dork, so what does that say about you?”

“That I have poor judgement,” Tortue deadpanned.

“Me-ouch!” Chat said, clutching at his chest dramatically.

“Such poor judgement.”

Chat laughed. “But seriously, you’ll be great. And don’t fight me on this, I’m from the future, I know what I’m talking about.”

Tortue smiled gratefully. “Thanks, man.”

Chat held his fist out for a fist bump; his smiling increasing, Tortue hit it.

“Now come on, young padawan,” Chat Noir said. “Let’s get some more superhero practice in.”

* * *

“She’s not answering,” Chat said with a sigh an hour later as he stared at his baton.

“You can call Ladybug on that thing?” Tortue Verte asked in surprise.

“You too,” Chat replied and called his friend.

Instantly, Tortue’s miraculous lit up, projecting an image of Chat Noir and a telephone into the air above Tortue’s wrist.

“Use it like a touch screen,” Chat told him, used to seeing his friend do so in the future.

Tortue did as instructed and answered the call; the picture automatically changed to the one of Chat looking into his baton.

“Duuuuuude, that’s awesome!” Tortue exclaimed.

“Indeed it is,” Chat said and hung up. “Alas, my Lady mustn’t be transformed because she’s not picking up.”

“It’s so weird to hear you call her that.”

“Huh? Why?”

“I don’t know, I guess I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that she’s Ladybug. She’s been head over heels for you for so long, it’s funny to think you’ve been just the same.”

Chat’s expression was wistful as he was lost in his memories. “Since our first mission together, my heart’s been hers.”

“Love at first sight?”

“Pretty much. It was seeing her speak up to Le Papillon, purify a bunch of butterflies at once and promise the people of Paris that we’d keep them safe that really sealed the deal. I can remember saying then and there that whoever was behind the mask, I’d love them. Of course, then comes along a passionate yet shy classmate who I eventually noticed and makes me question how it was possible to fall for two people at once. Imagine my surprise – and relief – when I found out they were the same person.”

“If you love her so much, why won’t you tell her who you are?”

Chat sighed. “I love her,” he said. “I love her so much it hurts. It hurts because the Marinette of this time doesn’t know who I am. She looks at civilian-me and sees the perfect son, she looks at Chat-me and sees her goofy, flirty partner. She doesn’t realise they’re two parts of a whole.”

“Then _tell her_ -“

“It hurts because I can’t tell her that because I’m terrified of what it will do to our future. It hurts because she doesn’t know the happiness that’s in our future. It hurts because she doesn’t know Emma, our beautiful, lovely little girl, and it hurts because the Marinette that does that all that is eleven years away from me.”

“But we’re assuming your present-self is in the future, yeah? So he’s probably learnt all that stuff. What’s to stop him coming back to the present with all that knowledge anyway? If you don’t tell her … other-you probably will.”

“This will probably all be sorted with one of Ladybug’s Miraculous Cures. There’s no guarantee he’ll remember his time in the future.”

“But there’s no guarantee he won’t,” Tortue argued. “Dude, time can be rewritten.”

“And I’ll respond with another choice line from _Doctor Who_ : Not those times. Not one line. Don’t you dare.”

“But-“

“I won’t risk it. I won’t risk my future. I won’t risk Emma. Never Emma. You can’t ask me to do that.”

“But you don’t know-“

“ _Exactly_!” Chat exclaimed, getting frustrated and turning away from Tortue to stare out at the Parisian skyline while he vented. “I don’t know! So I’m going with what I _do_ know.”

“Uh, dude-“

“I know that Marinette and I found out who we were when we were seventeen-“

“Dude-“

“We got married at twenty three-“

“Dude-“

“I know that Emma was born when we were twenty five-“

“ _Dude_ -“

“I know that I love my wife so much that I took a hit for her and got myself sent _eleven years into the past_ , so now I’m freaking out that _anything_ I do will change that future. But _that_ is the timeline I know, _that_ is the timeline I’m going with and-“

“ _DUDE_!”

“ _WHAT_?!” He shouted, turning to face his friend.

Tortue Verte didn’t reply, he just gestured to something behind Chat’s shoulder.

Chat froze and turned slowly, oh so very slowly, to see what his friend was looking at.

 _Please_ , he thought as he turned. _Please_ , _please_ , _no_.

(But really, he had the powers of bad luck and distruction. He shouldn’t have expected anything else. He knew who was going to be standing behind him.)

He turned around and there she was.

Ladybug.

Marinette.

His wife.

She looked at him with nothing but shock and confusion written on her features.

Her cute, beautiful, painfully young looking features.

“Chaton?” And god, she sounded as confused as she looked. “What are you talking about? What’s going on?”

He opened his mouth to speak but no words came out.

“Chaton?” She asked again. “Chat Noir, what’s going on? What do you mean you got sent to the past? A-And what do you mean m-married? And who’s he?” She asked, gesturing at Tortue Verte. “A report on the Ladyblog said you were seen with him, I thought it might have been an akuma, but-“

“What are you doing here?” Chat finally spoke up.

“I-I just said-“

“ _Marinette, what are you doing here_?!”

She gasped at the sound of her name coming from his lips. “H-How do you – _what_?“

“You _weren’t supposed to hear that_. This _wasn’t_ how it happened. I could – I could lose them. I could lose you and Emma. I can’t…”

Faced with his Lady learning the truth and the possibility of losing his future with Marinette and Emma, Adrien was rapidly losing control of his emotions.

“Chat?” She said, clearly worried about the breakdown he was having. “Are you okay?”

“No!” He exclaimed. “I am not okay. I am the _complete opposite_ of okay. I’m not supposed to be here. I want to be _home_. But I’m not, I’m here, and you just heard everything I said and god you’re so _young_! And that’s Tortue Verte the new holder of the turtle miraculous but he wasn’t supposed to be chosen for another three years, and we weren’t supposed to find out about each other for another two and _you just heard everything I said_. Why can’t I shut up?! I did the same thing at school! Why can’t I just keep my mouth closed?! And god, now I’m freaking out. Am I freaking out? I think I’m freaking out. I wasn’t supposed to freak out, _you_ were supposed to freak out.”

Ladybug walked over to him and put her hands on his shoulders. “Chat Noir, calm down.”

God, this was so backwards.

 _He_ should have been saying that to _her_.

“I’m calm, I’m calm, I’m totally calm.”

“No, you’re not,” she said. “Now just relax and explain what’s going on.”

“Yeah, dude,” Tortue put in. “Just tell her.”

Chat turned to face his best friend as Ladybug pulled her hands away from his shoulders, “I don’t want to.”

“You kind of have to, dude.”

“No, I don’t.”

“Yes, you do.”

“Nope.”

“Yes.”

“Nope.”

“Tell her!”

“No!”

_“Yes!”_

_“No!_

_“Tell her or I will, Adrien!”_

Silence fell on the rooftop. Chat Noir froze and Tortue Verte’s eyes widened as he realised exactly what name he’d just used. It was broken, predictably, by Ladybug.

“ _A-A-Adrien_?” She squeaked out timidly as her eyes bore into him.

Chat could tell by her expression that she was comparing him to his civilian counterpart. Comparing and contrasting each similarity that she’d never really realised until that moment. Sure, there was plenty of other Adrien’s in Paris, but Chat knew which Adrien she’d automatically think of.

He sighed, realising there was nothing else for it. The damage was already done.

(Him and his stupid, big fat mouth.)

He dropped his transformation and Plagg came soaring out of his ring. “I guess the cat’s out of the bag,” he said.

(The quip didn’t even bring a smirk to his face; this was not how the entire situation was supposed to go).

Shell shocked.

Ladybug looked shell shocked.

And was rapidly turning a bright red colour.

“Adrien,” she breathed out. “You’re _Adrien_.”

He gave her a weak wave. “Hi, Buginette … Princess.”

She gaped at him. “T-Today at school! Y-You called me Princess!”

Adrien flushed. “Uh, yeah. Force of habit, I suppose.” He gestured to his kwami. “This is Plagg, by the way.”

“Hello, Ladybug,” Plagg greeted. “Do you have any cheese?”

“Hi,” she replied, looking dazed. “Hi – do I have – _what_?”

“No, she doesn’t, Plagg. Leave her alone,” Adrien said.

Ladybug continued to look dumbfounded. “Y-You’re _Adrien_. You’re _Chat_ , but you’re _Adrien_. _Ohmygodyou’reAdrien_.”

“That’s me.”

“An-And you said ... You said that you were from the future.”

He nodded, “Eleven years, to be precise. But because I’m here, something had gone wrong with the time stream-“

“Wait, wait,” she said, holding her hands up to stall him. “Just – give me a minute – you’re _Adrien Agreste_?”

“Yes.”

“And y-you’re from the future?”

“That’s right.”

“H-How did you get here?”

“An akuma based on time. I jumped in front of an attack meant for you and I woke up in my fifteen year old body. I think that fifteen year old me is now in my twenty six year old body.”

“You _stupid_ cat,” Ladybug said, an instinctive response to Chat’s reckless actions; she then blushed furiously when she realised exactly who she said it to. Nevertheless, she continued with her questions. “A-And we’re – we are – w-we’re – we’re – uh – m-m-married?” She asked, her face bright red.

Adrien couldn’t help but smile when she called him stupid; that was so like his Lady. “We are,” he answered her.

The colour of her cheeks matched the colour of her suit and she let out a little ‘eep!’ sound.

“Damn, kid,” Plagg said. “I think you broke her.”

“Not helping, Plagg,” Adrien said with a sigh.

“Wasn’t trying to, Lover Boy.”

“You know what this reminds me of?” Tortue Verte interjected. “That time with the dude that could control people with cards and when Ladybug turned up _you pushed me out of the way_ to talk to her.”

“Hey, you said talk to her!” Adrien retorted.

“I know, but now I’m feeling like a major third wheel. You guys are so couple-y. It’s cute-”

“It’s disgusting,” Plagg put in.

“Well, we are a couple,” Adrien said, pointedly ignoring his kwami. “And come on, man! That was like twelve years ago!”

“Not for me, it wasn’t!”

“ _Nino_?!” Ladybug asked incredulously, finally making the connection.

Tortue Verte disappeared in a flash of light and Nino stood in his place. He waved sheepishly at her. “Hey, Marinette.”

Adrien looked at him. “I thought we were supposed to keep all this a secret?”

Nino cringed and had the grace to look guilty. “Sorry, dude. But I’m sure Emma will be waiting for you when you get back.”

Ladybug looked at him. “W-W-Who’s Emma?”

Adrien automatically smiled as he thought of his daughter. _Their_ daughter. Their Little Lady.

He reached over to put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “I think you know, Marinette. After all, you were always the one who wanted to name their daughter Emma.”

In hindsight, he really should have seen what was coming next.

All the information she’d received proved too much at once and his future wife fainted in his arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there's chapter four. I hope you guys liked it.
> 
> Future-Adrien reeeeeally has to stop putting his foot in it. I don't think I've been too nice to Future-Adrien. He's a bit of a mess this chapter. But I liked the idea of him freaking out before Marinette did because everyone expected her to freak out, not him. I also liked the idea of her fainting because it mirrored with Past-Adrien did at the start of the story. They both fainted when they heard about Emma.
> 
> My poor, oblivious, hopelessly in love, French dorks.
> 
> Anyway, it's super late here and I have uni classes tomorrow morning so I'm going to post this and sleep.
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and let me know what you thought in the comments!
> 
> Much love,
> 
> Leisey.
> 
> P.S: Ten points to Hogwarts house of your choice if you pick up on the Avatar: The Last Airbender quote I put in this chapter. It wasn't quite as obvious as the Scott Pilgrim Vs The World one I put in here.


	6. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there are akumas and Past-Adrien gets some news he really didn't want to hear. 
> 
> OR:
> 
> It takes us five chapters for there to finally be a kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone!
> 
> Sorry you had to wait so long for this chapter. I had lots of uni stuff to do and then went on a two week cruise overseas, so I haven't really had time to write. That said, I hope you enjoy it!
> 
> Also, I found out the other day that this fic had been fic rec-ed by tumblr user hchano. Since I don't think I've ever been fic rec-ed ever, I just wanted to say a big thank you (seriously I danced around like I dork when I saw the recommendation) and I'm glad you like the story :)

**PARIS  
2016**

Chat Noir and Tortue Verte had almost gotten the unconscious Ladybug home before the akuma attacked.

It had been a slow-going trip over the Parisian rooftops. Chat cradled Ladybug in his arms, jumping easily from rooftop to rooftop, while Tortue cautiously – nervously – trailed behind him (the new miraculous wielder wasn’t quite that adept at running over rooftops just yet.)

They had nearly made it to the Dupain-Cheng bakery when screaming filled the air.

Chat groaned and skidded to a stop, gently laying Ladybug down on the roof, but still holding her so that she was half sitting up. “Ladybug,” he said in an attempt to wake her. “My Lady, you need to wake up.”

Tortue Verte looked uneasy. “Uh, I only got my miraculous _today_. I’m not entirely sure I’m up for whatever is coming, man.”

“You’ll be fine,” Chat said as he began gently shaking his partner. “Ladybug and I had only just received out miraculouses when Ivan was akumatised and everything turned out fine. You got this.”

Tortue remained unconvinced. “Uh, yeah, you guys won because you’re _Ladybug and Chat Noir_! You guys are pros!”

Chat laughed, “We weren’t back then. In fact, when we first met, she came falling out of the sky, crashed into me and we ended up hanging upside down, tangled up in the string of her yoyo.”

Tortue laughed, “What?! How have I not heard that story?”

Chat shrugged, “Well, everyone in Paris was freaking out because it was the first akuma attack. It’s no wonder people missed our little screw up. However, we don’t really have time for more reminiscing.” He turned to look at his future wife. “Sorry, my Lady,” he said. With that, he roughly shook his partner. “Ladybug! Wake up!”

She woke with a startled shout. “W-What?!”

“Sorry, my Lady,” Chat apologised. “But we’ve got an akuma.”

“Chat,” she said, looking at him with wide eyes. “You’re Adr-“

“We really don’t have time for that right now, my Lady,” Chat cut her off. “Paris needs us.” He turned to look at Tortue Verte. “Paris needs _all_ of us.”

Ladybug and Tortue looked like they’d rather do anything but go fight an akuma at that moment, but they steeled themselves and nodded.

Ladybug stood up, “Alright, but after this we’re all having a talk.”

Chat couldn’t help the smirk that appeared on his face. “Sure, My Lady. We’ll have a _chat_.”

She gave a long suffering sigh and rolled her eyes at him. She then turned to Tortue. “What powers do you have?”

Tortue filled her in on his powers and she nodded, looking thoughtful.

“We won’t be able to tell if he’s rewound time,” Chat put in. “Only he remembers it. We just have to trust him when he says he’s done it.”

Ladybug nodded, “Right. Okay. Let’s go.”

Ladybug and Chat Noir went to go soaring over the Parisian rooftops towards the akuma, but they were stopped by Tortue.

“Uh, guys?” The newest miraculous wielder spoke up.

They turned to look at him and Tortue continued. “I, uh, only got my miraculous today. I haven’t got used to the whole flying thing yet. I could barely get to the top of this roof? How am I supposed to get all the way over there?” He pointed in the direction of where loud screams of scared Parisians were coming from.

Ladybug and Chat Noir shared a look before sending Tortue a simultaneous, comforting smile. “I felt in over my head on the first day too,” Ladybug said. “If you’re feeling nervous about the flying, just try jumping from roof to roof. Advanced agility comes with the suits.”

“Like parkour, man,” Chat said.

“We’ll do it with you,” Ladybug said.

The three of them stood a first steps away from the roof’s ledge, far enough to get a running start.

“Ready?” Ladybug asked.

“No,” Tortue replied nervously.

“We have to go now, Paris needs us,” Chat said.

“Okay, on three!” Ladybug said. “One!”

“Two!” Tortue gulped.

“Three!” Chat cried.

They all ran at the rooftop and jumped when they reached the edge. Chat felt a flare of pride when Tortue had jumped along with him and his Lady. He had screamed whilst doing it, but he had jumped nevertheless.

“And again!” Ladybug called as they ran to the next building’s ledge. “One!”

“Two!” Tortue said with a bit more confidence.

“Three!” Chat shouted as they made the jump.

They repeated their countdown with every ledge they came to. Eventually, Tortue Verte had gotten used to it and his nervousness had disappeared. After a few more jumps, they arrived at the source of all the commotion. The three of them paused on a rooftop and looked down at the akumatised villain they had to face.

Ladybug gasped.

“I suppose that proves that we will be dealing with past akumas,” Chat said.

“What’s he doing here?” Ladybug asked. “He can’t be here. He’s not in the country! He’s in _China_!”

“Well, someone didn’t tell the messed up time stream that,” Tortue said. “Because I can definitely see a Goku-lookalike trying to brain someone with a baguette.”

And Tortue was right, they couldn’t deny that, because on the street below them was the akumatised villain known as Kung Food.

* * *

 **PARIS  
** **2027**

“Okay, here’s the plan,” Ladybug said as the four of them bounded over Parisian rooftops. “We need to slip up and search for Father Time. I’ll go north. Chat, you go east. Vopina, south. Tortue, west. If you find him, do _not_ engage. Just call for back up and stay on his tail under we all arrive. Got it?”

“Got it!” They chorused and each took off in a different direction.

Chat headed east, as instructed. _Come on_ , he thought as he ran. _Come out. I want to go home_.

As much as Chat liked being in the future and learning how much happiness was in store for him and Marinette, he wanted to be home. With his Marinette, with his younger friends. His older self belonged in this future, not a younger Chat in an older body.

He was also having trouble moving around in a body he wasn’t used to. This body was bigger than his normal one and Chat wasn’t quite used to having such long legs or such a longer reach. He could still move fairly well, but it wasn’t with the same grace he had in his fifteen year old body.

He briefly wondered if his older self was having the same issues in his younger body.

(Far away, eleven years in the past, the elder Chat Noir sneezed and took a baguette to the face because he misjudged the length of his arm when going to take a hit).

“Why, hello, kitty,” said a voice from behind him.

Chat skidded to a halt on a rooftop and turned to see Father Time standing there. He automatically got his baton out and sent a message to the others.

“Ohh, sending out a message to you little friend, are you?” Father Time asked. “Even though they’ve been lying to you?”

Chat frowned and got into a fighting stance. “My friends have never lied to me.”

“Such faith in them!” Father Time laughed. “Well no, maybe they haven’t. But lying by omission is still lying, isn’t it?”

Chat felt uneasy and clutched his staff tighter. “What are you talking about?”

“I can control the time stream,” the akumatised villain said. “I can see it all. And I know you, Chat Noir, are so very much younger than the body you’re in. You’re in the future and there’s so much they haven’t told you.”

“Stop trying to mess with my head,” Chat snapped. “They’ve told me what I need to know.”

Father Time laughed again; it was a cold, harsh sound. “They haven’t told you _anything_!”

“They’ve told me enough!”

“Oh really? Well, when do you think they were going to tell you that your Father is the Papillon?”

* * *

 **PARIS  
** **2016**

“I am never,” Nino panted, “ _ever_ , doing that again!”

“You kind of have to, man,” Adrien said. “That’s the whole deal of being a superhero.”

The trio of miraculous wielders had defeated Kung Food and were now regrouping in a quiet, little Parisian back street. They were all sitting on the ground, trying to catch their breath.

Marinette’s uncle Cheng had disappeared in a swarm of ladybugs after the superheroine had used her ‘Miraculous Ladybug’ power. They presumed that meant he was back in China with no memory of his impromptu trip to France. (Well, they _hoped_ that meant he was back in China. They hadn’t heard otherwise, so that was what they were going with. No news is good news, right?)

Kung Food had been an even harder fight the second time around and all three superheroes and their kwamis were recuperating from it.

“Never again,” Nino reiterated.

“But, Master, you must!” Wayzz said.

Nino gave the green kwami a tired smile. “I know, little dude, and I will. I don’t actually mean that I’ll never do it again. Just … Right now I feel like I need to sleep for, like, five years.”

Adrien, Plagg and even Tikki nodded in agreement with that.

Marinette, on the other hand, was attempting to bore holes in Adrien with her eyes.

Adrien shot her a very Chat Noir-esque grin. “Why, my Lady, while I’m always happy for your attention, if you stare at me any harder, you’re going to make your future self jealous. I’m a married man, after all.” He completed his teasing with a wink.

Marinette turned bright red, let out a small “eep!” and buried her head in her hands.

Nino laughed. “Aww, come on, Marinette. This is a dream come true for you. The guy you’ve been crushing on for ages likes you back! Plus, did you miss the part where he’s from the future and you’re _married_?”

Marinette just let out a groan. “Stoooooop!” She moaned, embarrassed.

Adrien considered teasing her further, but decided against it. He moved over to her and gently tried to pry her hands away from her face. “Marinette? Mari? Please look at me.”

She stubbornly kept her hands where they were.

“Marinette, please,” he tried.

Still nothing.

“I will call you every nickname I have ever had for you until you look at me,” he warned.

She didn’t move.

“Oh well, I warned you. Marinette, Mari, Ladybug, My Lady, Buginette, Bugaboo, Princess, Wifey, Mumma Bug, LadyMum, Bug-“

“I was processing, you stupid cat!” Marinette snapped, lunging to her feet. Then she stopped as she realised exactly who she said that to and her typical Marinette stutter came back. “I – I – I mean, I just, I’m just trying to tut it all pogether. I mean! _Put_ it all _together_! It’s just – you’re Adrien, but you’re Chat and I have the biggest crush on you but I’ve been rejecting you this whole time and now you’re from the future and we’re married?! Just – what?!”

“Don’t forget Emma,” Nino put in as he and Adrien stood up as well.

“Yeah!” She said. “And we have a daughter?! That’s just – that’s just-“

But they wouldn’t get to hear what Marinette thought about her future daughter, because Nino’s phone began to ring, cutting off whatever she was about to say.

“It’s Alya,” the DJ said as he looked at his phones screen. “Hello?”

“ _Where have you been?!”_ They heard Alya shout into the phone. Nino cringed at the volume and pulled it away from his ear, tapping a button to put it on speaker.

“Oh hey, Alya,” Nino said. _What do I say to her?!_ He mouthed to Adrien and Marinette.

 _Lie!_ They mouthed back to him.

Alya couldn’t know the truth. Not yet.

_“Seriously, where have you been?! You went home with Adrien and then disappeared! Have you seen the news?! There’s a new superhero! I got an awesome video of him, Ladybug and Chat Noir. Where are you? I’ll come show you.”_

“Oh, I’m – uh – out clothes shopping,” Nino lied, before turning to Adrien and Marinette. “Right, guys?”

Marinette and Adrien both shook their heads at him. He wasn’t supposed to drag them into the conversation!

 _“Wait, who are you with?”_ Alya asked.

Marinette let out a soft sigh and spoke up. “Me,” she said. “I ran into Nino and said I’d help him pick something out.”

“And me,” Adrien said reluctantly.

_“Adrien, you’re there too? I thought you weren’t feeling well?”_

“I felt better after a bit of rest, and thought I’d help Nino pick out some clothes too.”

_“Well, I suppose he can’t go wrong with a fashion designer and a supermodel helping him. What store are you in? I’ll come find you.”_

“The – uh – erm – soup store?” Nino said, clearly thinking of the akuma that just tried to turn that into soup.

There was the sound of Adrien and Marinette simultaneously hitting themselves in the forehead in frustration.

There was silence from Alya’s end of the line. Eventually the blogger spoke up, sounding both confused and amused. _“Why are you buying clothes at the soup store?”_

Adrien thought quickly and came to the rescue. “For the last time, man, none of us want to go for soup. That’s just you. Ignore him, Alya, he’s been talking about soup all afternoon.”

Alya laughed. “Okay,” she said, sounding bemused. “But, seriously, where are you guys? I’ll come find you.”

Marinette gave her an address and with the promise that she’d be there soon, the blogger hung up.

Adrien and Marinette turned to Nino. “The _soup_ _store_?!” They chorused.

“I’m sorry! I panicked! I totally blanked!”

Plagg laughed, “Man, that’s even worse than some of the excuses Adrien’s come out with!”

“We may need to work on your lying skills, Master,” Wayzz said, his tone of voice amused.

“Oh, be nice, it’s his first day,” Tikki said, shooting Nino a smile. “He’ll get better.”

“He definitely can’t get worse,” Plagg muttered.

“ _Plagg_!” Adrien, Marinette, Tikki and Wayzz admonished.

The cat-like kwami rolled his eyes at them. “You did good, kid,” he said to Nino. “You should be proud.”

“As I am proud, to be your kwami,” Wayzz put in.

Marinette, Adrien and Tikki chimed in with their own praise.

Nino smiled and held his fist out. They all tapped theirs with his, even Wayzz, Tikki and Plagg with their tiny little paws.

“ _Bein_ _joue_!” They chorused.

Adrien then turned to Marinette. “But before Alya gets here, I think you and I should talk.”

Nino, realising that this was a discussion that needed to be had, said, “I’m just gonna go over here win the little dudes.” Then he and the kwamis moved away to give them some privacy.

“First off,” Adrien said. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you the truth as soon as I ended up in the past. I wanted to try and preserve the timeline as much as I could. That seems like a bit of a moot point now. I was just trying to protect you and Emma in the future. I didn’t want that future – _our_ future – to be taken away from us.”

“You’re always protecting me, _Chaton_. I see that hasn’t changed in eleven years.”

“And it never will,” he promised.

He paused to take her in. He studied her. She really did look ridiculously young. But she was still his Lady, his Princess, the girl he fell in love with and he could help the tender expression that came on his face as he looked at her.

“What is it?” She asked, a blush tinted her cheeks.

“There’s been something you’ve been waiting to hear from me,” he said. “Wanting to hear, hoping to hear. Three words in particular that you _deserve_ to hear, but I’m not going to say them. I’m not going to deny the younger me the chance to say it. Lord knows he’s tried enough times to get them out. I won’t beat him to the punch. I’m sure it’ll be the first thing he says the moment he gets back to you. And I’m not going to deny you the opportunity to hear it from _your_ Adrien, either.”

“You _are_ m-my Adrien,” she said, with only a small hint of a stammer. “It d-doesn’t matter that you’re older. It doesn’t matter that you have all these memories that I don’t. You’re still _my_ Adrien, _my_ _Chaton_. That hasn’t changed. You’re still the same person, you’re still A-Adrien Agreste.”

He smiled, “You always were too good for me.”

“I don’t think that’s true. It’s the opposite: you’re too good for me.”

He shook his head. “No, Princess, you’re too good for me. I’ve always thought that. You are stars and constellations: shining, shimmering-“

“Splendid?”

(She may have interrupted him, but that didn’t mean that Marinette wasn’t beet red at his words).

He laughed, “Well, you _are_.”

“You don’t need to win me over with Disney quotes, _Minou_ , I’m already won.” She froze as she realised what she said. “I mean! I just – I like you a lot! I mean, you already knew that cause you’re from the future and we’re married and now I’m just panicking because I just confessed to you even though you knew because – hello – _future_ and god, I’m rambling. Please shut me up.”

Adrien chuckled and took her hands in his; she instantly fell quiet at the action. “I won’t say what you want to hear,” he said, “Because I want the younger me to say it. But just know that you are stars and constellations, Marinette: beautiful, shining lights in the darkness that is the life of Adrien Agreste. And Adrien – be it me or the younger Adrien, who I can assure you is probably fighting desperately to get back to your side right at this very moment – would be more than happy to spend the rest of his life staring at the sky.”

Marinette’s cheeks rivalled the colour of her Ladybug suit. “You – I – Adrien – I –“

He gently covered her lips with a finger, cutting her off mid-babble. “Whatever you’re going to say, save it for him. I’ve had over a decade of knowing you love me, Marinette. He needs to hear it more.”

She nodded. “I’ll tell him. First thing, as soon as he gets back. I’ll tell him.”

Adrien smiled. “I’m sure he’ll love to h-“ he began, but then cut himself off in a strangled shout as Marinette quite abruptly swooned, and her eyes rolled back into her head before she collapsed.

“Marinette?!” He cried, catching her as she fell. “Mari?! Can you hear me?! Please wake up!”

But she wouldn’t respond and she wouldn’t wake, leaving Adrien to cradle his unconscious future wife for the second time that day.

* * *

 **PARIS  
** **2027**

“What are you talking about?!” Chat Noir snapped at Father Time. “My Father isn’t the Papillon! I think I would know if my Father was the supervillain we’ve been fighting this whole time!”

“Such loyalty,” Father Time said. “You always show such loyalty to people who don’t deserve it.”

“Shut up.”

“You have loyalty to a Father who’s rarely there. A Father who turns innocent people into villains-“

“He’s _not_ the Papillon!”

“You’re loyal to a woman who spurned your advances for years. Shot you down time after time, when you were nothing but devoted to her.”

“Don’t you _dare_ say a word about Ladybug!”

“And to top it all off, you still don’t think they’re lying to you. Tell me, when you came to the future, did they tell you anything about your Father?”

Chat thought back to when he’d asked why his Father had a book on the Miraculouses. _A conversation for another day_ , Ladybug had said. It hadn’t been an answer to his question at all.

Father Time must have seen something in his expression because he said, “Oh? Remembering something are you? Are you remembering dodged questions? Like I said, lying by omission is still lying, after all.”

“ _Shut_. _Up_ ,” Chat snarled.

Chat felt both anger and confusion welling up inside him; it wasn’t a good mix. But he mainly just felt anger; anger at the akumatised villain in front of him. The one that landed him in the future in the first place and who was now trying to mess with his head by spouting lies.

“Oohh, am I making you mad, kitty?”

“I’m very much like my Lady. I don’t like liars,” Chat said. “And I am very sick of your lies.”

“Chat Noir!” Three voices called and Chat looked up to see Ladybug, Tortue Verte and Volpina arriving on the scene. They instantly took on fighting stances as they landed beside Chat, glaring at Father Time.

“You can call me a liar all you want, Chat Noir,” Father Time said. “You can believe I’m lying if that makes you feel better, but that doesn’t change the fact that your Father is the Papillon and he won’t rest until he has yours and your wife’s miraculouses.”

Ladybug, Tortue Verte and Volpina stiffened at his words.

Chat turned to Ladybug. “Is it true?” He asked her.

He’d believe her, no matter what her answer was. He always trusted her. He didn’t want it to be true though. _Please, please, please, don’t be true_ , he mentally begged.

“Chat, we don’t need to do this now-“

“No, my Lady, you tell me right now. _Is it true_?!”

A sad, guilty expression crossed Ladybug’s face. Tortue Verte and Volpina wore similar expressions. Silence fell around them. “I’m sorry, _Chaton_ ,” his partner eventually replied. “But it’s true.”

Chat cringed and it felt like he’d been hit in the stomach. His Father … His Father was the Papillon? He was the one terrorising Paris? _His Father?!_

“ _Why?!”_ Chat demanded. “Why is he doing this?!”

“To bring your mother back,” she answered.

God, that just made Adrien feel _worse_. “But she’s gone!” Adrien protested. “She disappeared years ago!”

“With the combined power of our miraculouses, he thinks he can find her and bring her back.”

“That’s – that’s-“

Distracted as he was, he didn’t notice Father Time raising a hand towards him, but he heard the shout of “ _Time_ _Stream_!” and a cry of “ _NO_!”

A ray of energy shot towards him. It was too quick. He couldn’t dodge. He was going to –

Ladybug barrelled into him and pushed him out of the way, taking the hit in his stead. She fell to the ground with a groan.

“LADYBUG!” He, Volpina and Tortue Verte cried.

Ladybug looked up at them. Her eyes caught his and he saw her mouth his name before her eyes shut and she collapsed, completely unconscious.

“NO!” He cried as he stared at her in horror. His Lady, hit. His Lady, unmoving. He rushed to her side and desperately searched for a pulse. One of there, strong and steady; she was simply asleep. But he knew what happened to those hit by the Time Stream attack. He was there in the future because of it, after all. What was going to happen to Ladybug when she woke up?

 _If she woke up_ , a part of him thought.

No, no, no, he refused to think that. She’d wake up. She had to.

Father Time laughed. “Now it’s the Bug who’s lost to time!”

Chat glared at the akumatised villain in front of him. Logically he knew it wasn’t his fault. That under the akumas – _his Father’s_ – influence, there was an innocence person. But Chat was angry, and confused and scared and he wanted to beat the akuma by any means necessary. He wanted to call on his Cataclysm and take it down, but he didn’t. Instead, he scooped up Ladybug’s limp form and turned to Volpina and Tortue Verte. They shared a look and no words needed to be said. Within seconds, his two friends were running interference while he bounded away with his partner in his arms.

Next time. They’d get him next time.

* * *

 **PARIS  
** **2016**

Adrien left Nino to deal with Alya when she arrived (which in these circumstances, was probably like throwing his best friend to the wolves), but Marinette took precedence.

He took her to her parent’s bakery and carried her inside. Her parents were obviously concerned until he said she’d simply fallen asleep while they were hanging out (which was, technically, true). They gushed at how kind he was to carry her all the way home. Tom offered to carry her to bed, but Adrien said he was fine and didn’t want to jostle her while she slept, so he’d just carry her up there.

(He may have just won over his future in laws with that statement alone).

Marinette stirred as he laid her down on her bed and took off her shoes so she’d be more comfortable. He mentally cursed at disturbing her.

“Adrien?” Marinette murmured as she slowly woke up.

“Yeah, I’m right here, Mari,” he said, crouching down beside her bed. “How are you feeling?”

She blinked up at him, seeming a little confused. She then turned around to study her room. “Oh,” she said.

“Princess, are you alright?”

“You look so _young_.”

 _What_? He thought, trying to understand that random statement. _Wait a minute…_

“Marinette, what is our daughter’s full name?” He asked, hardly daring to hope that he might be correct in his assumption.

“Emma Sabine Agreste,” she answered correctly, something the Present-Marinette wouldn’t be able to do. He hadn’t told her Emma’s middle name. “Although I hope past you will take good care of her now that the both of us are-“

But that was as far as she got, because Adrien suddenly pulled her into his arms and kissed his wife for all he was worth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before you even ask, yes, yes I did reference Code MENT by PurpleEyesWTF on Youtube. If you didn't understand the reference, please just go youtube 'Code ment soup' and watch the video called 'I'm at soup - code ment'. You will not be disappointed.
> 
> I'll probably be putting a few youtube abridge parody references in this fic. I love abridged parodies.
> 
> Now, let it be known that I DO NOT WANT GABRIEL TO BE THE PAPILLON! I JUST WANT ADRIEN TO BE HAPPY! THE CAT SON DESERVES TO BE HAPPY, DAMN IT!
> 
> "But, Leisey, if you don't like the idea of Gabriel being Hawkmoth, why did you include it in your fic?" You ask.
> 
> Because I needed more drama in the Future-Paris and so far Gabriel and Le Papillon had been two issues that I'd just glossed over. It was easier to make them the one person than split them in two. And I can acknowledge that evidence from the show does make it seem like he's the Papillon, even if I don't want him to be.
> 
> COINCIDENCES! THEY'RE COINCIDENCES, I TELL YOU! RED HERRINGS! ADRIEN DESERVES TO BE HAPPY, DON'T DO THIS TO HIM. WHY AM I DOING THIS TO HIM?! POOR KID'S GONE THROUGH ENOUGH.
> 
> ... I have a lot of Adrien feels, you guys.
> 
> Again, sorry this took so long to update. Life's been a bit hectic for me lately. But now I can officially say I've gone overseas! And keep and eye out for the ML Cruise!AU that I'll be bringing out soon. I got inspired on my holiday and well, as I've previously mentioned, I have no self control when it comes to this fandom.
> 
> In regards to the Avatar quote I put in the last chapter (if any of you are still curious) it was: "I'm trying to be mature and not immediately shoot down your idea, but it sounds really terrible." Sokka says it to Aang in The Headband.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Let me know what you thought in the comments and thank you to all of you who have commented on this fic. You are lovely. :)
> 
> Much love,
> 
> Leisey.


	7. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there are a bit of feels, a bit of fluff and our two favourite dorks are reunited.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone!
> 
> Sorry for the wait on this chapter. Real life got hectic.
> 
> Also, just a heads up .. I'm an Aussie, so I use British English like the word 'gaol' instead of 'jail'.
> 
> I hope you all enjoy chapter six!

**PARIS  
2027**

Was it weird to watch the sleeping form of your future wife?

It was weird to watch the sleeping form of your future wife, wasn’t it?

_Although_ , Adrien supposed. _In this time, she’s not my future wife, she_ is _my wife._

She’s his future-current wife?

Argh, time travel was _hard_.

A distant part of Adrien knew he was only worrying about what to call her to distract himself from the bombshell that Father Time had dropped on him. That, plus his increasing worry about Marinette.

His Father was the _Papillon_.

And Marinette _wasn’t waking up._

Adrien had taken her back to their apartment. Volpina and Tortue Verte had caught up to him eventually and actually directed him to said apartment (Adrien couldn’t quite remember where it was. He hadn’t been in the future that long to memorise the address). His friends also promised to take care of Emma for them while Marinette recovered.

Part of Adrien wanted to take care of Emma himself – she was his daughter, after all – but the logical, ‘Holy-crap-I-don’t-know-how-to-take-care-of-little-children!’ side of him knew that was a bad idea. So he gratefully let Alya and Nino take care of his Buglet while he positioned himself on a chair beside his and Marinette’s bed and waited for his Buginette to wake.

Tikki and Plagg were there too. However, both were uncharacteristically quiet as they worriedly watched over Marinette.

And, of course, in that silence, Adrien’s brain _wouldn’t shut up._

His Father was the _Papillon_. He was the one terrorising Paris all this time. And it was all to get his Mother back?

And Marinette _still wasn’t waking up._

Adrien put his head in his hands and groaned.

He would have loved to see his Mother again. To hug her in his arms, to find out why she disappeared and what actually happened to her. To see her in front of him, warm and kind and really, _really_ there. But there were ways to go about it and turning innocent civilians into akumatised villains was so _not_ the way to do it!

Plagg floated into his line of sight, “Stop thinking about it, kid.”

Adrien looked at his kwami, clearly distressed. “How can I _not_ think about it?!”

“Plagg is right,” Tikki said, floating up to join her kwami counterpart.

“And pay close attention to that, because she doesn’t say it often,” Plagg said.

Tikki rolled her eyes at him and then turned to face Adrien. “Stressing about it will only make you feel worse than you already are,” she went on.

“Were – were you ever going to tell me?” Adrien asked.

“Of course,” the kwamis replied in union.

“Well, when?” Adrien demanded, sounding frustrated. “I’ve been here in the future for a while now and not once did anyone say, ‘Hey, Adrien, just thought you might like to know that your Father is the one behind all this’. Or ‘You know the Papillon, that’s your Dad, by the way. Just thought you ought to know.’”

“Adrien,” Plagg began.

“No really!” Adrien cut him off. “That’s something I would have liked to know!”

“We didn’t want to bombard you with too much information at once,” Tikki said, her tone apologetic.

“But it’s okay for Father Time to just drop it on me?!”

“Adrien,” Plagg said, flying close to his face. “Calm. Down.”

“How – how can I be calm?! Father’s the Papillon. It’s bad enough he rarely lets me have any time to myself, but now I have to go home knowing he wants my miraculous?! He –“ Adrien cut himself off with a gasp, his mouth opening in realisation.

“What is it?” Tikki asked.

“After Jackady, Father came into my room. He hugged me – I remember because he rarely hugs me – but then he looked at my ring! And before that! When I was Chat Noir! He looked at it then too! Oh god, does he know?! Does he know I’m Chat Noir?!”

“And we’re back to the stressing,” Plagg observed.

“Adrien, relax,” Tikki said calmly. “It’s okay.”

“You and I have a very differing opinions on what is ‘okay’, Tikki,” Adrien replied. “How is this okay?!”

“At this moment in time, in this future, yes, your Father knows you’re Chat Noir,” Plagg answered his earlier question.

“ _What_?!” Adrien yelped, jumping to his feet in alarm.

“Kid, sit down and let us explain!” Plagg said.

Adrien reluctantly sat back in his chair.

“Your Father has known you were Chat Noir and vice versa for some time,” Tikki told him.

“And we haven’t gone to the police?!”

“You keep yourselves in check,” Plagg put in. “You don’t reveal him and he doesn’t reveal you.”

“That is the stupidest–“

“We didn’t say it was a brilliant situation. It just is what it is,” Plagg said.

“Also,” Tikki added. “You don’t want him to go to gaol. He’s the only family you have left, disregarding Marinette, Emma, Sabine and Tom.”

All the fight went out of Adrien at that statement. He sighed heavily. “… Do … Do you think he can be saved? Can he be redeemed?” He asked tentatively.

“You seem to think so,” Plagg said. “You haven’t given up on him yet.”

“And the situation does come with some advantages,” Tikki put in.

“Like what?” Adrien asked.

“You no longer model for him,” Plagg said. “In fact, you got to go to university to study what you wanted to do.”

“I did?”

Tikki nodded, “Mmhm. You’re now a physics teacher.”

“I am?”

“And a good one at that,” said Plagg. “All your students love you.”

That brought a hesitant smile to Adrien’s face, “Really?”

“Really, really,” his kwami replied.

Adrien turned to Marinette, who was still fast asleep. “And what about Marinette? Does he know she’s Ladybug?”

Both Plagg and Tikki nodded.

“Of course he does,” Plagg said. “You weren’t very subtle with how you felt about her, and neither was she come the post-reveal. _Everyone_ knows Ladybug and Chat Noir are a thing and _everyone_ knows that Adrien Agreste married Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Your Father knows who she is.”

“Is – is she safe?” Adrien asked. Marinette’s safety would always be his top priority, after all.

“I’ll say,” Plagg answered, while Tikki giggled.

“What do you mean?” He asked, staring at the kwami in confusion.

“She works for him,” Tikki said. “She’s one of his top designers.”

Adrien’s mouth dropped open in shock. “She – she works with my Father? With the _Papillon_?! With knowing who he is and he knows who she is?!”

Tikki and Plagg nodded once more.

“She _willingly_ works with him?!”

They nodded again.

Adrien stared at them, dumfounded. “What?!”

“Well, it was a bit of a love-hate, begrudging alliance to start off with,” Tikki explained. “Marinette had already accepted an apprenticeship with your Father before you found out he was the Papillon. For a while, things were a bit rocky. Neither of you wanted anything to do with him. But it was a good opportunity for Marinette, and after you calmed down, you didn’t want to give up on your Father. You thought he could be redeemed.”

“Can he?”

“It’s a work in progress,” Plagg said with a shrug. “Gabriel doesn’t understand why you won’t just give him the miraculouses to find your Mother. You two claim that he’s not supposed to use the miraculouses that way and that turning innocents into akumas is just way off the mark. So he just sends out more akumas in retaliation. He’s nothing if not persistent.”

“You do have monthly dinners together,” Tikki put in to his surprise. “Although the conversation isn’t always the best.”

While he was shocked they had monthly dinners, the fact that conversation was strained didn’t surprise Adrien at all.

“Does he know Emma?” He asked.

The kwami nodded. “She’s the cutest kid to ever wear the Gabriel brand,” Tikki said.

“While he doesn’t see her a lot, he tends to buy her a lot of things,” Plagg added.

That didn’t surprise Adrien either. That was just like his childhood: Barely any contact, but lots of presents.

“Of course,” he muttered with a sigh.

He turned to the sleeping form of Marinette. “What does Mari think of all this?” He asked.

“Like you, she wants to think Gabriel can be saved,” Tikki answered. “But as Plagg said, it’s a work in progress. However, she is in line to inherit the company once Gabriel steps down.”

“Wait, what?!” Adrien asked in shock.

“Well, you didn’t want it and your Father wanted it kept in the family,” Plagg said. “Ladybug or not, Marinette’s got talent _and_ the Agreste name, ever since she married your ugly mug.”

“Hey!” Adrien said indignantly, although his mind was reeling at all the information Tikki and Plagg were giving him.

Tikki went to speak, presumably to scold Plagg for teasing his Chosen, but was interrupted by Marinette stirring in bed.

Adrien instantly turned to her, leaning in, eager to see his Lady wake up. “Marinette? Mari, can you hear me?”

She groaned and Adrien broke out in a smile. Her eyes fluttered opened and his heart soared with joy. She was awake!

Of course, that just brought the question of which Marinette he’d be speaking to. Would it be the normal, 2027 Marinette? Or had the Marinette from the past joined him in the future? And if it was the Marinette from the past, did she know he was Chat Noir?

In her half asleep state, it took a while for her to recognise him.

“Marinette? Are you alright?” He asked.

He saw recognition flash in her eyes and she open her mouth to speak. Adrien leaned in further, desperate not to miss what his Lady had to say.

“Oh no, he’s hot,” she said.

Adrien leant back and blinked in surprise. That was – that was _not_ what he was expecting her to say.

He could tell the moment she realised what she’d actually said because her eyes widened and she sat bolt upright. “No!” She cried, arms flailing around her head in alarm. “I mean – uh!”

(God, that thing she did where she framed her head with her hands when she panicked was cute).

“You’re not hot!” She continued. “You’re uh – pretty? – no, wait! Beautiful? No! Handsome! You’re handsome! I mean, of course you’re handsome, you’re a model.”

Adrien didn’t need to guess to know which Marinette he was dealing with now.

His Lady had joined him in the future.

He smiled at her fondly, “Marinette, Marinette, it’s okay.” He held his hands up in an attempt to placate her. “Mari, really, it’s fine.”

She paused in her flustered flailing, “A-Adrien? Is that really you?”

He nodded, “Sure is.”

“You look so _old_.”

“Yeah, I was confused when I woke up here too,” he said with a laugh.

Tikki and Plagg floated into view. “We’ll let you two have a moment to yourselves,” Tikki said, pulling her bad luck counterpart towards the door of the bedroom.

“This means we can have camembert, right?” Plagg asked as he went.

“You can have camembert, I’m having cookies,” Tikki replied.

Adrien and Marinette watched them go; the kwamis disappeared through the bedroom door and then they were alone.

Marinette turned back to him; her brow was furrowed in thought. “… So, you’re my Adrien?” She asked in clarification.

(He liked being called _her_ Adrien more than he probably should).

“If by that you mean am I the fifteen year old Adrien stuck in my twenty six year old body, then yes.”

“So we’re in the – uh – future?”

“Yes. I’ve been here for a few days now and it’s been … eye opening, for lack of a better term.”

“I think eye opening is a bit of an understatement, _Chaton_.”

“Yeah,” Adrien began to agree, “I know, it’s-“ He abruptly cut himself off and stared at her in wonder. “What did you just call me?”

She gave him a small, nervous smile. “Your future-self let the cat out of the bag. Hello, Chat Noir.”

He gaped at her.

Did – did she just use that out of the bag joke?

Did she just pun _willingly_?

“I’d been saving that one for years, my Lady!” He said indignantly. “I’d been saving it for years and years and you used it _before_ me!”

She stared at him incredulously. “I just woke up in the future, revealed I know who you are with a cat joke and what you focus on is the fact that I used said joke before you?!”

“ _Years_ , my Lady!”

“You’re ridiculous!” She said. “Although you clearly know who I am because you called me ‘my Lady’ twice.”

Adrien smiled at her, “Hello, Buginette. Nice to finally meet you outside of the costume. Well, I mean, we’ve met plenty of times before but we _didn’t know_ and now we _do_ and it’s _different_.”

Oh god, he was babbling, wasn’t he?

And he couldn’t stop smiling at her.

His excited babble did manage to make his Lady’s nervous smile grow bigger. “Mice to neet you – I mean! – it’s nice to meet you outside of the suit,” she returned. “I’m sorry if you’re disappointed it was me.”

Now it was his turn to stare at her incredulously, “Disappointed? Why in the world do you think I’d be disappointed?!”

Marinette shrugged, “Ladybug is just better than I am.”

He continued to stare at her, not comprehending.

“It’s just that … under the mask, I’m a bit of a disaster,” Marinette clarified at seeing his confusion. “I’m clumsy, I’m late all the time, I’m honestly surprised I can string two sentences together around you at the moment…“

Adrien had always wondered why Marinette had always been so tongue tied around him and yet so confident with the others in their class. He had always put it down to her being nervous about who his Father was. Marinette was an aspiring fashion designer, after all, and the Agreste name could be an intimidating one in that field. However, he had learnt differently since coming to the future and as Marinette continued to put herself down, he couldn’t help but remember what her elder counterpart had said: _You were Adrien Agreste: Kind, beautiful, and woefully out of my insecure reach._

He walked over and put his hands on her shoulders, cutting of her mid-self-deprecating babble. “You really have no idea how incredible you are, do you?” He said, shaking his head as if he thought she was being ridiculous.

“I – what?” Was her elegant reply.

“You’re amazing, Marinette,” Adrien said earnestly. “I’ve thought that since the first day we met.”

“ _Ladybug_ is amazing,” Marinette tried to argue.

“Ladybug’s amazingness has to first be present in you,” he replied. “You _are_ Ladybug. You’re incredible, in and out of your mask.”

“I-“ She began.

“Was Ladybug the one who stood up for herself when the new kid supposedly put gum on her seat?” Adrien asked.

“Thank you for that embarrassing reminder,” she muttered, blushing.

He grinned and continued on, “Was it Ladybug who helped Juleka get her first class photo? Was it Ladybug who made a banner for Alix and Kim’s race? Is Ladybug our class president? No, that’s Marinette Dupain-Cheng. That’s _you_. You don’t need a miraculous and a magic suit to be amazing, Marinette. You’re already amazing. I mean, yes, technically it is Ladybug doing that stuff, but that’s just because Ladybug is you. Everything I’ve admired about Ladybug from day one has already been present in you and I’ve honestly been kicking myself that I didn’t realise it sooner. The spots don’t make you a hero, Marinette. _You_ make the spots into a hero.”

Marinette stared at him, her mouth slightly open as she processed everything he said. His hands were still resting on her shoulders and her cheeks were beet red, but Adrien refused to move. He wouldn’t give ground until he knew that Marinette understood exactly how incredible she was.

She swallowed once and opened her mouth to speak, “I love you.”

Adrien froze.

What – what did she just say?

His hands slipped from her shoulders in shock as he gaped at her.

Sure, it was one thing to know his future. To know that he and Marinette ended up together. It was another thing entirely to hear Marinette confess her love for him. Sure, she might look like her older self, but she was still his Lady, his Marinette, and she had just said she loved him.

How do you breathe again?

_Adrien.exe has stopped working._

She loved him.

_She loved him!_

Was Adrien actually allowed to be this happy?

And judging by how red Marinette was turning and the panicked look in her eyes, she hadn’t meant to confess quite like that.

“It’s okay if you don’t feel the same!” She exclaimed, once again flailing her arms around her head. “It’s just – I promised your older self I’d say it when I saw you next! And you can’t just say such nice things to me, _Minou_ , because then my heart goes all crazy and there’s no filter in my mouth. And this is all your fault too, because I fell in love with you as Adrien and then you come along with your stupid Chat Noir face and your stupid Chat Noir puns and I start falling for you twice, but I don’t know that you’re the same person and – _mmfft_!”

Somewhere part way through Marinette’s babble, Adrien’s brain kicked back into gear. He placed his hands on her waist and pull her towards him, silencing her with a kiss. She froze in surprise but quickly melted into it. Her arms wrapped around his neck and he could feel her smiling against his lips.

“I love you,” he murmured between kisses. “I love you.”

God, that felt good to say.

After all his failed attempts to confess it to her, it felt good to finally say it. To love and to be loved.

There were other things he needed to talk to Marinette about. His Father being the Papillon and working out how they were going to defeat Father Time being two main points that needed to be discussed. However, Marinette proved to be very distracting and Adrien was quite happy to continue as they were for a substantial amount of time.

Eventually – reluctantly – he pulled away from her. Not so much that he stepped out of her embrace, but so he could rest his forehead against hers as they got their breath back.

“As much as I would like to continue that, I need to talk to you about what I’ve learnt whilst in the future,” he said.

They could kiss later (and Adrien had every intention of doing that). But right now, they needed to be Ladybug and Chat Noir. They had to be responsible.

Marinette must have seen how serious he was, because she took a deep breath to compose herself. “What have you learnt?”

He cringed. He didn’t want to say it. Saying it out loud to her meant admitting it was true. “I found out – I learnt – I mean – argh!”

Why was it so hard to say?!

Marinette reached out to cup his cheek in her hand, “ _Chaton_ , what is it?”

He looked at her sadly, took a deep breath and spoke, “My Lady, I know who the Papillon is.”

* * *

**PARIS  
** **2016**

Kissing in his younger body was an odd experience, but by no means unenjoyable.

It was more like just one of those moments were you forgot how much you enjoyed something until you did it again. It was different, but at the same time it wasn’t. He might have been used to kissing an older Marinette, but there was still a familiarity in the action.

Knowing that it was his wife that he was kissing. Knowing that she knew and remembered the eleven year difference … well, it made it one of the best kisses Adrien had ever had. It was filled with love, relief, and such an intense feeling of belonging, that he would have been quite happy to keep kissing Marinette forever.

Of course, Adrien still had questions. Like how had his wife managed to make it eleven years into the past? How was Emma since the last time he’d seen her? How were they going to get home since Father Time hadn’t made an appearance in the Paris of 2016? And how much did his younger – well, technically, biologically, older – counterpart in the future know about said future?

But Adrien had been through the emotional ringer since arriving in the past and had been stressed out about preserving the time stream; so he was going to take the welcomed distraction of his wife while he could.

At least, for a small moment anyway.

Eventually he pulled away from her incredibly distracting lips and sent her a small smile.

“Welcome to the past, my Lady,” he said. “I’ve missed you.”

She returned the smile, “I missed you too, _Chaton_.”

“Now what do you say we start brainstorming ideas about how to get back to our Little Lady?”

Marinette looked determined, “All the akumas in the world couldn’t keep us from Emma.”

Adrien held out a fist and his wife hit it.

_Hold on, Buglet_ , he thought, mirroring the same determination as Marinette. _Mama and Papa are coming!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there's chapter six. I actually had half of it written for ages, but I was a bit too busy to get it finished. I'm holidaying in Sydney at the moment (going to a Mayday Parade concert tomorrow! Woo! Are there any MP fans out there?) So between the train trip here and chilling in my hotel room, I finally got it finished.
> 
> As always, let me know what you thought in the comments and thanks to everyone who has read, commented, subscribed or given kudos to this fic. You guys are amazing.
> 
> Much love,
> 
> Leisey.


	8. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which I shouldn't write chapters based on dreams.

**PARIS  
2027**

“I’m so sorry, Adrien,” Marinette said when he told her exactly who the Papillon was.

“I don’t know how I didn’t see it,” he said. “Have I been just wilfully blind this whole time?”

“ _Chaton_ -“

“I’m so unobservant!” He exclaimed. “I didn’t even notice you were Ladybug! It’s so obvious and I didn’t see it.”

“I didn’t realise who are you either, Adrien. Or realise who the Papillon was.”

Adrien was thankful for her attempt to cheer him up, but it did little to improve his mood. “You’re not the one who lives with him, my Lady. You’re not the one who’s – who’s _related_ to him.”

Marinette took his hands in hers. “We’re gonna get through this. We’re gonna defeat him. We will. And you know how?”

Adrien shook his head, “How?”

She smiled at him, wearing a determined yet loving and comforting expression. “Together, like we always do. We’re Ladybug and Chat Noir. We’re an unstoppable team.”

There was a silence as he processed her words. Then, he slowly returned her smile. “You’re right. Thank you, my Lady.” Adrien felt himself calm down and he really fought the urge to kiss her again. There were other things they needed to focus on.

“So, what else do I need to know about the future?” She asked.

Adrien thought about her question for a moment before answering. “Well, Buginette, there’s a few people I need to introduce you to.” He paused, his smiling increasing. “Trust me, there’s one little Lady that you’ll just love to meet.”

* * *

 

**PARIS  
2016**

“So Nino has his miraculous already?” Marinette asked.

They were still in Marinette’s room, only now Adrien was filling her in on the changes to the time line.

He nodded, “And he knows we’re Ladybug and Chat Noir. No one else knows though. Well, besides Master Fu.” He paused in thought. “Actually, I wonder how Nino’s going. I kind of left him to deal with an overly excitable and probably curious Alya.”

Marinette sucked in a breath and looked sympathetic for their DJ friend. “Harsh.”

“Hey, you were unconscious and I had to get you home,” Adrien defended himself. “Plus, Alya was psyched after seeing Tortue Verte in action for the first time. I was not prepared to deal with that.”

“Poor Nino,” Marinette laughed. “You’re a bad best friend.”

“Am not,” Adrien said with a pout.

“And now you’re pouting,” Marinette observed. “And you wonder where Emma gets it from.”

Adrien automatically changed his expression, “I am not!”

She laughed, “Are so.”

“Am not.”

“Are so.”

“Am not.”

“Are so.”

“Am not! Must accept! Ha! I win!”

There was a silence before the two of them burst out laughing.

“Do you ever stop to wonder how we’re actually adults and _parents_?” Adrien asked.

Marinette smirked at him, “Wonder how _I’m_ an adult? No. _You_? Yes.”

“ _Hey_!”

“As amusing as you two flirting is,” interjected a new voice. “Perhaps we could get back to the point.”

Marinette and Adrien turned to see Plagg floating between them, with Tikki beside him.

“Hi Plagg,” Marinette greeted. “Nice to see you again.”

“You too, Bug. Do you have any cheese?”

“You just told them to get back to the point, but now you’re asking for cheese?” Tikki asked, exasperated.

“Cheese is important.”

“So is fixing the time stream!” The ladybug kwami said.

“But _camembert_!”

“But _time_ _stream_!”

“Cheese! Cheese! My kingdom for cheese!”

Tikki groaned, “Plagg, please don’t start monologuing about cheese again.”

“Alright, fine,” Plagg said. “But there better be camembert later.”

“There will be,” Adrien promised, looking amusedly at the two kwami. “Plagg, I _always_ give you cheese.”

The black cat kwami begrudgingly had to admit that was true, even if he muttered that it was “never enough.”

“But okay,” Marinette said, steering the conversation back to the point. “What do we do? We’re facing a messed up time stream, akumas from the past and future, and the akuma causing this is in the future. You’re sure you haven’t seen Father Time here in the past?”

Adrien nodded, “Positive.”

Marinette sighed, “That makes this harder.”

Adrien frowned in thought as a ridiculous plan came to his mind. “What if… What if we just went and took Father’s miraculous from him?”

Marinette, Plagg and Tikki all looked at him in shock. “What?” They chorused.

Adrien cringed at their expressions, but elaborated. “Father doesn’t know we’re Ladybug and Chat Noir in this time. He’s been interested in our jewellery, but he has nothing solid on us. But we know he’s the Papillon. He won’t be expecting us to just turn up and take it from him.”

There was a silence following his words.

“That sounds…” Marinette began before trailing off, not entirely sure how to finish that sentence.

“Ridiculous, I know,” Adrien said.

“Too easy,” Plagg put in.

“It sounds like it could do more damaged to the time stream than has already been done,” Tikki said.

“What do you mean?” Marinette asked.

“I’m not expert on time,” Tikki said. “The Great Guardian or Wayzz would know better than me. But, the akuma that sent you to the past was made by the Papillon in the future. It also sent your present selves to that future. If you defeat the Papillon here in the past, that would mean the future Papillon would never have made Father Time into a akuma in the first place. But you and your present selves would still be in the wrong times.”

“A paradox,” Adrien said in realisation. “Okay, yeah, let’s forget that idea.”

(Adrien had watched enough _Doctor Who_ that even speaking the word ‘paradox’ was raising red flags in his mind. Best to avoid those.)

“I wish it was that simple though,” Marinette sighed. “You know, that we could just walk up to Gabriel and take it.”

There was a contemplative silence.

Why couldn’t it be that simple? Why had he and Marinette let his Father continue to terrorise the people of Paris? Yes, he wanted to believe that his Father could be redeemed, but at the cost of the safety of civilians? And yes, he wanted to see his mother, but there were other ways of finding her than his Father’s plan to combine the Ladybug and Black Cat miraculous. As desperate as Adrien was to find his mother, it wasn’t worth letting the people of Paris live through the constant fear of akumatisation.

No. It had been selfish letting their ridiculous miraculous family feud go on long enough.

“Let’s do it,” Adrien said at last, breaking the silence. “When we go back, let’s just go up to Father and demand his miraculous. All he’s doing is causing people grief and Nooroo has been through enough.”

Marinette looked at him in surprise. “I thought you wanted to see if your father could be redeemed?”

“That was before I was kicked eleven years into the past. It was … scary being here, my Lady. I was so afraid I was going to do something to mess up our future. That I’d lose you and Emma.”

“ _Chaton_ ,” Marinette said, reaching over to him to put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“This has gone on long enough, don’t you think? Father can be redeemed _after_ we take away his miraculous.”

Marinette was quiet as she thought about what he said. “You’re right,” she agreed, sounding determined. “When we get back, we’re ending this.”

“But that just brings us back to the question: how do we get back to the future?” Adrien said.

“I’d suggest going to the Great Guardian,” Tikki chimed in.

“Fu does have a knowledge of time and the time stream,” Plagg agreed.

“He didn’t say anything about travelling through time when we were last there,” Adrien said.

“He might have something now,” Marinette said, standing up. “And we have no other ideas, so why not?”

Adrien stood as well, “Alright, lead the way, my Lady.”

He followed his wife out onto her balcony. They shared a determined look. They were going to find a way back to the future. They were going to get back to their daughter. No matter what.

“Tikki!”

“Plagg!”

“ _Transformerz_ _moi_!”

* * *

 

**PARIS  
2027**

Marinette and Adrien had made it halfway to Alya and Nino’s before the screaming started.

Adrien groaned in frustration, “We were going to see our Buglet!”

Marinette looked disappointed, “I know, but Paris needs us.”

They darted into a deserted alley.

“Tikki!”

“Plagg!”

“ _Transformez_ _moi_!”

Ladybug and Chat Noir emerged from the alleyway and rushed to where the frightened screams of Parisians were coming from.

“It’s _fur_ -strating, but if this is Father Time, we have the chance to go home!” Chat called to his Lady as they went.

“Hopefully! Let’s beat this akuma!” Ladybug called back to him.

“You bet!”

They landed on a roof and assessed the situation. There, on the street, was an akumatised villain and not one that they were familiar with.

“Uh, is Sailor Moon attacking Paris?” Chat asked.

“Sailor Moon is attacking Paris,” Ladybug replied.

It really did look like the fictional Sailor Senshi was attacking their city. The akuma they were facing was a young woman that looked remarkably like the anime character. She had blonde hair done up in the same style and was wearing a uniform that looked similar, just in a mix of different colours. Red, white, blue, orange, yellow, purple, pink, green … a mixed of bright colours that made it seem like a rainbow had thrown up on her. She even was holding a rod that looked like Sailor Moon’s Moon Rod.

“I am Weeadoom!” She announced. “And I will prove that it’s okay if you like anime!”

“We’re facing an anime related villain?” Chat asked, just for clarification.

“We’re facing an anime related villain,” Ladybug confirmed.

“This is the greatest day of my life,” Chat said, unable to keep the smile from his face.

He was going to have a field day with this.

“Chat, don’t be excited that there’s an akuma,” Ladybug scolded.

“I’ve got this, My Lady. I’ll distract her, you go for the rod. I bet that’s where the akuma is.”

“Alright, be careful.”

“Buginette, it’s my time to shine,” Chat laughed.

He darted in front of the akuma. “Hey, Sailor Akuma! How’re you going?”

“Chat Noir! Give me your miraculous!” Weeadoom screeched.

“Nah, I don’t think so,” Chat said. “But I’ve just got one thing to say to you.”

“What?” Snarled the akuma.

“It’s time to d-d-d-duel!”

He heard Ladybug groan somewhere to his left.

“In the name of the miraculous, we will defeat you!” Chat said, doing the Sailor Moon hand movements along with the words.

Weeadoom swiped at him with the moon stick, which Chat parried with his baton. Weeadoom staggered back and Ladybug swung her yoyo towards the rod, intending to grab it, but Weeadoom managed to dodge her.

 “I’m getting all fired up now,” Chat said with a laugh.

“So it’s fine for you to reference anime’s, but when I do it, I’m teased?” Weeadoom demanded. “That’s not fair!”

“I’m sorry that happened to you, but we won’t let you hurt the people of Paris!” Ladybug said.

“Believe it!” Chat agreed.

Weeadoom glared at him even more fiercely than she’d been doing previously. “It’s _dattebayo_!” She cried, firing a blast of energy at him from the moon rod.

And in that one shining, perfect moment, Chat knew the best way to provoke Weeadoom.

“You know, I disagree,” Chat said to her. “I’ve always thought dubbed was better than subs.”

“NO, THEY’RE NOT!” She shrieked, shooting numerous blasts of energy at him.

While he agreed with her and thought subs were better, his statement did have the desired effect; her attention was now all on him, giving Ladybug the chance to summon a Lucky Charm.

“A skipping rope?” Ladybug asked. “What am I supposed to do with this?”

Chat darted into engage Weeadoom while his Lady figured out how to used her charm.

“Enough of this!” Weeadoom cried. “Give me your miraculouses!”

“Say please,” Chat smirked, “ _anime_ think about it.”

His Lady groaned at the pun, while Weeadoom just growled and sent an energy beam towards him.

“ _Cataclysm_!!”

Much like with Guitar Villain, his cataclysm stopped the attack from hitting him.

“Chat Noir!” Ladybug called out to him. “Catch!”

He turned to see his Lady throwing one end of the skipping rope to him. He caught it, ready to go with whatever plan Ladybug had in mind.

Weeadoom, of course, had other ideas.

“You might be able to dodge me,” she said, before turning to some unfortunate civilians who hadn’t been able to evacuate in time. “But _they_ can’t.”

“ _No_!” Chat and Ladybug cried as Weeadoom sent a barrage of energy beams towards the civilians.

“ _Limbo_!” A voice cried.

A green blur landed in front of the people. The energy beams were suddenly reflected off their course and the people were safe.

“Whoa, that was a close one!” A familiar voice exclaimed.

Tortue Verte stood there in front of the civilians, his shield still raised from where he’d protected them. It was clear he’d used his special ability to get them in time.

_Nino_! Chat thought in relief as he looked at his best friend.

And if Nino was here, that meant –

Yep, there Volpina was, standing by Ladybug with her flute ready to play.

And if Alya was here, that meant –

Wait, that meant…

“ _Who’s looking after our Buglet_?!” Chat demanded. “I left her with you!”

“Relax,” Volpina said. “We left her with Grandma and Grandpa DPC.”

Chat sighed in relief, “Oh good.”

“Who are _you_?!” Ladybug cried, looking at the fox miraculous holder.

Oh, right. He hadn’t actually gotten around to telling Marinette that her best friend was Volpina. Nino, she’d found out about in the past, but she didn’t know about Alya. Adrien had been saving it for a surprise when they went to see Emma.

Volpina frowned in confusion, “Girl, it’s _me_.”

“Who?”

“Seriously, how many other girls in fox suits do you know?”

“Uh, the present-Ladybug got sent to the past. That’s fifteen year old-Ladybug,” Chat said to clarify the situation.

“I’m Volpina,” the fox miraculous holder introduced herself. “The _true_ Volpina.”

“Do you know who I am?” Tortue Verte asked.

Ladybug nodded, “You, I know.”

“Don’t ignore me!” Weeadoom cried, brandishing her wand.

“Time travel, reveals and anime akumas. I was not ready for today,” Ladybug said.

“I don’t think any of us were,” Chat said.

“I said, _don’t ignore me_!” Weeadoom shouted, firing energy beams at them.

They all dodged the attacks.

“Okay, forget this,” Volpina said.

(Chat felt like Volpina wanted to say something a bit harsher than ‘forget’).

Volpina cried out, “ _Oblivion_!” and began to play on her flute. Automatically, Weeadoom began to seemed disoriented.

“W-What is going on?” The akumatised villain said.

“Chat!” Ladybug called out to him. “Put the rope tight and run at her legs!”

“Got it!” He replied.

The pair ran at Weeadoom, who was still confused due to Volpina’s flute. The rope hit her legs and tripped her over. She fell to the ground with a grunt and Ladybug snatched up the Moon Rod.

“You’ve done enough harm, little akuma,” Ladybug said as she snapped the rod over her knee and the dark butterfly fluttered out of it. “I’m freeing you from evil!”

She threw her yoyo and snatched the akuma out of the air. “Gotcha!” She purified it and let it free with her usual, “Bye-bye, little butterfly.”

Chat couldn’t keep the smile from his face as Ladybug threw the skipping rope into the air with a cry of, “ _Miraculous_ _Ladybug_!”

Chat, Ladybug, Volpina and Tortue came together for a group fist bump, “ _Bien_ _joué_!”

Chat walked over to the previously akumatised villain, who was dazed on the ground. She was blonde haired, blue eyed and dressed in a pink skirt and black shirt. “W-What happened?” She asked.

Chat crouched to her level. “Hi,” he said, his tone gentle. “What’s your name?”

“Sarah.”

“Hi, Sarah,” Chat said. “I’m sorry, you got akumatised. The others and I took care of it though. You’re back to normal.”

Sarah looked mortified, “I’m so sorry! But thank you so much!”

“It’s alright, seriously. I’m sorry this happened to you. But hey, if you ever want to talk anime, I’m your guy.”

“R-Really?”

“Of course! It’s great! Do you have a favourite one?”

“U-Uh, well…”

Chat grinned at her, “It’s a hard question, I know. I personally can’t go past FMA:B, but that’s just me.” He leaned in to whisper to her conspiratorially. “And don’t tell anyone, but I’m a sucker for shoujos.”

“Seriously?!”

“You bet! Sailor Moon, Cardcaptor Sakura, Ao Haru Ride, Say I Love You, Ouran High School Host Club … I love them all.”

Sarah beamed at him.

“And there’s nothing wrong with that,” he said. “Next time someone gives you a hard time about anime, tell them that Chat Noir said they’re awesome.”

With that, he stood up and helped Sarah to her feet. He gave her a smile, and a comforting squeeze on the shoulder, before his ring let out a loud beep. “Oh, gotta go! Gotta go transform back to normal. The woes of being a magical cat-boy, am I right?”

Sarah laughed and Chat gave her a little salute before darting back over to the others. “Time to go see the Buglet?”

“I really want to see her,” Ladybug said.

Further conversation was halted by beeps from their miraculouses.

“Time to go turn back into pumpkins and see the Buglet?” Tortue said.

“Agreed!” Volpina said.

“Lead the way,” Ladybug said.

With that, they dashed away, intent on finding a secluded place to detransform.

After that, they headed off to the Dupain-Cheng bakery and Emma.

As they walked, Marinette came back beside him and slipped her hand in his. While Adrien could see her blushing out of the corner of his eye, he didn’t comment on it. Nor did he pull away from her; the contact was a comfort to the both of them.

Adrien grinned; he couldn’t wait for Marinette to meet their daughter.

* * *

 

**PARIS**  
2016  
  
“Tikki is right,” Fu said, “Attempting to take the butterfly miraculous in this time is a bad idea. Father Time needs to be defeated in the future. That will set the time stream back to normal. Only then could there be the possibility of taking the butterfly miraculous.”

They were at Fu’s shop, drinking tea and filling the Master in on what had happened since Adrien had seen him. (Which really wasn’t that long ago, but it felt like an eternity). Tikki, and Plagg were there, eating their respective favourite foods while their Chosen’s and the Guardian spoke.

As Adrien had expected, Fu knew Marinette was from the future before they’d even said it. He’d welcomed her to the past and offered them tea as soon as they walked into his shop.

(He was wise and mysterious that way).

They’d sent a message to Nino asking if he wanted to come with them, but since he was still dealing with an overly excited Alya, he declined their offer.

(He’d also asked them to come and save him from Alya’s continuous chatter about the new turtle superhero, along with Ladybug and Chat Noir. But Adrien and Marinette had to refuse his request; Nino had not been impressed).

“Do you have any idea how we can go back to the future?” Marinette asked.

Fu hummed in thought. “It will not be easy,” the Guardian said. “I will have to research this. I have knowledge of time and the time stream, but travelling through time itself is something I have no experience with.”

Adrien and Marinette shared a dismayed look. This was clearly going to take time and they needed to get back to the future and Emma as soon as possible!

“Something tells me that we may have to combine the forces of the Ladybug and Black Cat miraculous in order to achieve it,” Fu continued.

They stared at the Great Guardian in shock. Combining their miraculouses? Even with the extra eleven years of experience they had, they had never done such a thing.

“Seriously?” Adrien asked.

Fu nodded, “Time travel is no easy feat. I will research it further, but it may be a possibility.”

Adrien frowned. As hesitant as he was to combine their miraculouses, to have that ultimate power at his fingertips, he was determined to get back to their correct time.

To Emma.

“We’ll do whatever it takes,” Marinette said, echoing his own determination.

Adrien drew breath to agree with her, but was interrupted by a chime from his phone.

With a murmured apology, put pulled it out of his pocket. It was a message from Nino. Adrien opened it and his blood ran cold as soon as he read it.

**Nino: CODE RED! ALYA SAW WAYZZ! WTF DO I DO HELP???**

Adrien gaped at his phone.

Oh _shit_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The amount of references in this chapter is too damn high.  
> I apologise for this chapter, but then I don't because I had fun writing it. Sorry, not sorry?
> 
> I had a dream Chat was up against an anime akuma and was so amused by the idea that I had to write it down. I really do apologise for all the references though. (Ten points to the Hogwarts house of your choice if you pick up on the TeamFourStar quote I slipped in here). This chapter is filler-y, but it sets up where I want the story to go. Plus, it's been so long since I updated, that I wanted to upload something.
> 
> I hope you liked it! Please let me know what you thought in the comments. Thank you to everyone who has commented, given kudos or subscribed to this story. You are great!
> 
> Much love,
> 
> Leisey.


	9. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which this fic _finally_ gets updated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Awkwardly shuffles in and waves at fandom*
> 
> Hey, everyone.
> 
> Eight months later is better than never updating at all, right?
> 
> **Still, I have a surprise for this chapter: it's written by my amazing and super talented fanfiction wife wonderfulwizardofthozz.** We decided to swap fics for a chapter, because we both had writer's block. She wrote this chapter and I wrote chapter 24 of her fic 'Off The Hook' (a graffiti and yarnbomber au.) Her work is amazing and I love her, so please go give her a read and let her know how much you liked this chapter.
> 
> And since it's been so long since I updated, I have another chapter coming up after this one. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy!
> 
> Much love,  
> Leisey.

**PARIS  
2027**

The gang was about half a block away from the bakery when Marinette stopped walking, fear taking over her face.

Adrien stopped when her hand—still attached to his—wouldn’t go any farther. “Marinette?”

“I can’t do this.”

“What do you mean? It’s just meeting our daughter.”

Alya and Nino turned, hands slipping together as they paused.

“Nope. Not today. Stars. Can’t do it.”

“Marinette, we have to pick our daughter up. We can’t just leave her at your parents’ the whole time.”

“ _Maman_ will know something’s up the minute she talks to me. I can’t worry her, I can’t freak her out, can’t do any of that. Nope. Not today.”

Nino started laughing first, Alya quick to follow. “You think _Maman_ DPC is gonna worry?” Nino pushed his glasses up to wipe a few tears away. “Dude, she worries the least out of all of us at this point.”

Alya leaned on Nino for support, containing her amusement at their confused expressions. “You have no idea, of course, but you guys thought it wouldn’t be fair that Gabriel knew and not the DPCs, so you told them. Then you told them that they were gonna be grandparents. That was an exciting day, I’ll have to find those pictures—”

“No, Alya, no pictures. But it’s good to know who’s on our side and in the know, right, Marinette? Marinette?” Adrien turned back to her, squeezing her hand to get her attention.

She stared at the three of them in turn. “This is too much. I shouldn’t be meeting my _daughter_ at _fifteen_. That kind of thing is something I’m only daydreaming about, and it feels so far away that it’s wholly unrealistic, and yet we’re standing outside the home that I still live in back in my time, and my parents are _grand_ parents, and I’m _married—_ ” she flashed her ring to prove that point further, “—and it’s _too much_. I want to go _home_ to two-thousand-whatever-doesn’t-leave-me-meeting-my-daughter-when-I’m-fifteen-and-she’s-two!” Marinette wiped the few tears that had fallen to her chin, stepping a little behind Adrien to shield herself from the situation.

Adrien squeezed her hand, shifting so he could talk to her easier. “You’re right. We shouldn’t be meeting her when we’re our fifteen-year-old selves, but there’s nothing we can do about it. She’s our daughter, we’re supposedly twenty-six, and even if she’s from the future and we’re from the past—wait, she’s from the present—and we’re… _point is_ that we still have to take care of her and pretend like everything’s normal. Even if your mom figures something’s up.”

Nino bit the inside of his cheek. “Uh, Papa DPC is more likely to freak out. He’s been like that since Emma was born. Loves that kid to pieces and then some.”

Marinette and Adrien gave Nino a confused look. “You’re telling me that my _dad_ is the worrier?”

Alya laughed. “Oh yeah. One time, Emma had a slight fever. Like, thirty-seven-point-two, okay? And you two were at an event and Tom calls you in this huge panic and it was really no big deal but he—despite having taken care of _you_ as an infant—was worried about her.”

“I really don’t know what to do with that information. That doesn’t sound like Papa at all.”

“Grandfatherhood changed him,” Alya said solemnly. Then she and Nino started laughing again. “He’s still the same old guy, just worried about another tiny person.”

Nino came close enough to lay a hand on her shoulder. “If you don’t want to, we’re not going to force you.”

Marinette looked down and took a deep breath, contemplating all her options. Adrien rubbed his thumb across her knuckles while she thought to comfort her better.

She pulled her hand away, gripping his again when he stopped. "Sorry; that was distracting."

The four waited for what seemed like a long minute for Marinette to come to a decision.

"Okay. I think I'm ready. I want to meet Emma."

Alya looped her arm through Marinette's free one with a smile. "I thought you'd say that. Let's go inside."

* * *

**PARIS  
** **2016**

Adrien stared at the text.

"Who's it from?"

Adrien just turned the phone around so Marinette could read it herself.

"Well, shit. Sorry, Master Fu."

"This isn't supposed to happen yet." Adrien's phone chimed again.

**Nino: DUDE I NEED YOUR HELP LIKE TWO MINUTES AGO**

“What seems to be the trouble?”

Marinette craned her neck to see it and took the phone from her current-future husband.

“Alya saw Wayzz. Nino’s panicking. This technically isn't supposed to happen for like five or six years, maybe? It's hard to remember, but it's not every day we're trapped in the past, right?” Marinette shrugged, looking a little defeated.

“This isn’t right.” Adrien took his phone back from Marinette. “This is how it happened the first time, sure. The second time? Damn, time travel’s confusing.”

“Adrien, language. You can’t just cuss in front of the Great Guardian.”

“You literally just said ‘shit’ in front of him. I think we’re a little past that, Buginette. Anyway, our story of how Alya came to be Volpina is that she saw Nino with Wayzz when we were what, twenty-two? Twenty-one? And then Alya kept investigating and came to you and asked you questions. She jumped right into it like I did. Right?” Adrien turned to Marinette, sure she would include essential details he’d forgotten.”

“That sounds about right. She was not thrilled about learning the flute, either. ‘There’s a reason I was in journalism and not band!’” The couple laughed at the memory of her complaints, their hands coming to a comfortable rest on Marinette’s knee when they finally looked back to the Great Guardian.

He steepled his fingers and spoke slowly. “You’re saying that everything is speeding up further because of the akuma.”

“Yes, and that’s a problem, right?” Marinette rubbed her thumb over Adrien’s hand.

Master Fu nodded slowly. “It’s becoming more crucial for your past-future selves to either find Father Time or for us to make a decision regarding the use of both miraculous stones as soon as I do more research. In the meantime, go to Nino and help him. Friendships can transcend lifetimes, so surely he is still your friend today.”

Adrien nodded. “Alright.” He turned to his phone, typing as fast as he could.

**Adrien: Make something up. Say it’s a toy. That’s what you did in our timeline.**

**Nino: Dude, she’s not buying it.**

Adrien sighed. “Call her, Marinette.”

Marinette used the quick dial button she’d always had for Alya. “Hey, what’s up?”

“ _Marinette, is there a reason you’re calling me when you should be home resting_?”

“I, uh, went for a walk! With Adrien! I-I feel so much better now. Better! So better! I just wanted to call and update you on my improved condition! Much improvement!”

“ _Are you saying that I should come see you? Wait, Nino, come back_!”

“Doesn’t he have that thing? Let him go, come over to my place!”

Adrien shot Marinette a look, who reciprocated the gesture.

“ _He’s acting weird. Yeah, I’ll be over in a little bit. Are you home now_?”

“N-no! Just out with Adrien still! I’ll be home in like five minutes!” She sent a panicked look to Adrien; Master Fu busied himself with a book. “I’ll see you in like half an hour bye!” She hung up the phone as quickly as she could. “Master Fu, I hate to run out on you like this, but Adrien and I really should get going. It’s great to see you again. Wait, I mean…never mind. This is too confusing. Thank you for the advice. We will definitely be in touch.”

Master Fu waved while Marinette dragged Adrien out.

“Goodbye Master Fu! Easy, wifey.”

“Don’t call me that in public, hubs. We have to get back to my house.” She dragged him to a secluded spot to transform, ignoring his look at her nickname for him. “We should hurry. Alya’s always early. You know how she is. Wait, was she like that as a teenager? I can’t honestly remember right now. All I know is—aah!” Ladybug slipped, grateful for Chat’s quick hands. “Thank you. Guess I’m not used to being so tiny.”

“Don’t worry; I’ve had to get used to it, too. Good news is that we’re only a few houses away.” He pointed. “Last one in’s a rotten egg!” Chat bounded off and laughed over his shoulder.

“I regret marrying you!” Ladybug ran after him, landing half a second too late.

“I do believe that you owe me a kiss, my Lady.”

She scrunched her nose and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “Let’s get inside.” Marinette dropped in and released her transformation, stepping aside to give Adrien room. “So, uh…what’s the homework like these days?”

Adrien’s face fell. “Oh shit. Oh hell. Oh damn. Oh balls.”

Marinette sputtered and started laughing. “Yeah, I feel the same way. I’d hate to make past me miss out on some stuff just because I have no idea what’s going on.” She stepped close to him and wrapped her arms around his waist, rubbing her cheek on his chest. “I miss your cologne. I miss the slight color change that your contacts give your eyes. I miss Emma. It’s been a few hours and I already miss it. How are you doing it?”

“I was trying to get back home to you and to Emma, but you had to go and sacrifice your beautiful ass for me.” Adrien squeezed her softly, pulling her pigtails free to play with her hair. “I will say that this is nice to do. It’s been a while since your hair’s been this length.”

“I should go back to this, huh? It was a good length. I will say that my ass has significantly improved in eleven years, though. Is it wrong to be disappointed in my own fifteen-year-old ass?” She buried her nose against his collarbone, relishing the familiar-but-not sensation.

Adrien paused, playing with her hair again after a long moment. “Yes.”

“Really? Why?”

Adrien gulped. “Confession.”

Marinette pulled away to look him in the eye. “Are you cheating on me? Because if you are, I will find her in this day and age and kick her ass.”

“No, no. Nothing like that. Well, sort of. You see, as a healthy fifteen-year-old, I did a lot of ass-staring. Yours happened to be the most frequent flyer, though I didn’t realize that at the time, and—” He stopped talking when she shoved a finger over his lips.

“Are you saying that actual-model-turned-physics-teacher Adrien Agreste stared at my ass both in and out of costume as a teenager?”

“Y-yes. Yes, I am.”

Marinette bopped his nose. “You know I would’ve died if I’d known that then. Now. Ugh, you know what I mean.”

“If you told me that I would end up marrying Ladybug then, I would’ve also died. I hope our younger selves are faring well in our future.” Adrien took her hands and began to dance with her slowly.

She followed his lead. “I’m sure that Alya and Nino will take care of them. They’ll be alright.”

“That doesn’t mean I can’t worry about how Emma will be. I can’t imagine how confusing this must be for her, too. What if she grows up resenting us because of this? What if our younger selves accidentally do something that jeopardizes the future we have after seeing it? What if it’s not a self-fulfilling prophecy?” He let go and shoved a hand through his hair, panic coloring his voice.

“Adrien—”

“I’m not handling it well, Marinette. I want to tuck our daughter in tonight, but she won’t be born for another nine years. I just want to go back to the future—oh, we should watch those movies when we get back—and back to our normal, comfortable routine.”

“We will, I promise. It’ll be okay.” She took his hands again, rubbing her thumbs over his knuckles. “Adrien, I love you, and I'm thrilled to be married to you—er, that I will be married to you—but this is something that is way out of our control. We need to take a step back and—”

“Wait, you guys are getting _married?!_ ”


	10. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Past-Marinette will not be winning any Oscars, Future-Marinette and Adrien can't keep their mouths shut and Past-Alya loses her shit.

**PARIS  
2027**

Marinette was, admittedly, not the best actress.

She was not known for acting cool—just look at how she acted around Adrien before the reveal—but it became even more apparent when she reached the bakery.

“Hello, _Maman_! Papa!” She said when she entered her old home, with far too much cheer and far too loudly. Thankfully, Emma was nowhere to be seen and nor were there any customers, otherwise Adrien wasn’t sure if Marinette would spontaneously combust before they saw their daughter.

“Girl, _chill_!” Alya hissed from behind them.

Adrien gave Marinette’s hand a comforting squeeze. They’d get through this.

While he was used to acting composed, and thought he’d done quite well with his, “Hello, _Madame_ , _Monsieur_ ,” he didn’t think _he’d_ be the one to give the game away.

 Tom, Sabine, Alya and Nino all stilled; Nino even let out a groan of disappointment.

Or no, they would _not_ get through this.

_Uh oh._

Sabine’s eyes narrowed and she looked from her daughter (who was doing a great job at _not_ acting cool) and her son in law (who’d inadvertently just blown their cover). “What happened?”

“Uh, well,” Nino and Alya tried to speak up, and potentially try to lessen the fallout.

“Adrien calls us Tom and Sabine,” Marinette’s mother said.

“Sometimes even _Maman_ and Papa,” Tom added. “He doesn’t call us _Madame_ and _Monsieur_. He hasn’t called at that in years. What happened?”

The four miraculous wielders let out sighs of defeat.

Alya flipped the store’s ‘open’ sign to ‘closed.’ “It’s complicated.”

The Dupain-Cheng’s did not look impressed.

“Alya, you will tell me what happened to my son and daughter _right now_ ,” Tom said.

“Right now,” Sabine reiterated.

(Adrien _really_ liked the fact they referred to him as her son; it put a warm, happy feeling in his chest.)

“It’s okay, _Maman_ , Papa” Marinette spoke up. “Really. We’re not hurt, we just got hit by an akuma and it sent our present selves eleven years into the past.”

“And swapped us with our fifteen-year-old selves,” Adrien put in.

Dead silence met reigned in the bakery; Marinette’s parents just stared at them.

“And I know it’s a lot to take in,” his Lady said, “but I’d really like to meet my daughter.”

* * *

 **PARIS  
** **2016**

Adrien and Marinette turned in mortified unison to see Alya’s head poking through Marinette’s trap door.

He groaned. “Why in the name of camembert did I even try and preserve the timeline?!”

The corner of Marinette’s mouth turned up in a grin. “You’ve _got_ to stop getting your exclamations from Plagg.”

“By all the brie’s and blue vein, no I do _not_.”

“We’re restricting his cheese access when we get back, he’s a bad influence on you.”

“Awww, come on, leave him _brie_.”

“ _Definitely_ restricting his cheese access.”

Alya scrambled completely through the trapdoor and shut it behind her. “Oh no. Nononono. You’re not distracting me with cheese. I know what a heard! What’s with you two getting married!”

Marinette hushed her. “Alya! Not so loud! Do you want my parents running up here?”

Alya may have lowered her voice, but that didn’t stop her from whisper-yelling at them. “What is going on?!”

“Uh, well,” Adrien started.

Alya waved a hand dismissively at him. “Not you, Sunshine, I’ll get to you in a second. Mari, _spill_. I love you, but you can’t say two words to him.” She pointed at Adrien and continued. “Now you’re bantering and talking about marriage?”

Marinette shifted uneasily. “Well, you see—”

Alya turned to Adrien. “And you! Sunshine! Pretty boy! Actual Disney Princess, Adrien Agreste!”

“Alya, please!” Marinette begged. “Not so loud!”

“We can literally _hear_ the exclamation marks in your voice,” Adrien said.

“I saw Nino texting you!” Alya continued as if they hadn’t spoken. “What was up with that little green thing?! He wouldn’t give me a straight answer. He kept saying it was a toy. Toys don’t breathe, Adrien.”

Jeez, Alya was just as terrifying this age as she was in the future.

“As I was in _what_?!”

Oh. Oh shit. Oh hell. Oh damn. Oh balls. Did he just say that out loud?

Marinette put her head in her hands and groaned. “Yes, yes you did.”

Adrien looked between Marinette and Alya and muttered a curse.

Marinette hummed in agreement.

He looked at her. “I didn’t mean to.”

She sighed. “I know you didn’t, _Chaton_.”

That was when Alya, apparently, reached her breaking point. “Okay, what the _fuck_ is going on?!”

Marinette and Adrien shared a glance.

 _Do we have to?_ Adrien’s expression seemed to say.

 _You’re the one who mentioned the future!_ Marinette’s responded.

“Okay, on what planet can you two communicate just from looking at each other?” Alya demanded.

The pair froze and looked at the blogger. “About that,” Marinette began. “Adrien and I have been—uh—dating for a while.”

“In secret,” Adrien added.

Marinette nodded in agreement, like she wasn’t making this all up on the spot. “In secret, because we didn’t want his dad to find out. But we’re pretty serious, and that’s where the marriage comes in.”

Alya looked entirely unimpressed and crossed her arms. “Uh-huh. Now the truth.”

“That _is_ the truth!”

“No, it’s not! Marinette, you hate liars, so why are you lying to me?”

“We’re not,” Adrien interjected, trying to back up his Lady. “It’s just—”

Alya shook her head. “No, okay? _No_. Today I’ve seen a new superhero, Nino talking with a little green thing that he _claims_ is a toy, now you two are super close, can actually talk to one another, apparently are getting married and Sunshine here is talking about timelines and the future?! Something is up and you know what it is and you’re gonna tell me _right_ _now_!”

Marinette and Adrien sighed in unison. It seemed there was no getting out of this one.

“Would you believe we’re the time travelling Ladybug and Chat Noir from the future?” He asked.

Marinette stiffened and opened her mouth, likely to scold him for being so brazen about their circumstances.

Alya spoke up before his wife could say anything; the blogger snorted. “Yeah, right, Adrien. Pull the other one.”

“No, real—”

Marinette’s trapdoor flew open with a bang and Nino rushed into the room. “My dudes, Alya saw Wayzz! Why aren’t you answering your phones…?” He trailed off when he saw exactly who was in Marinette’s bedroom. A beat passed. “Welp, goodbye.” He turned to walk back out the way he had come.

“Oh, no you don’t!” Alya grabbed him by the back of his collar and pulled him towards her. “I have questions for you too!”

The blogger herded the three of them onto Marinette’s chaise lounge and stood in front of them. Her crossed arms and expectant expression made her seem very much like an exasperated mother with three disobedient children. “Spill it,” she ordered.

Nino looked at Marinette and Adrien expectantly.

“Why are you looking at us?” Adrien asked.

“Because I got mine today and you guys are _you guys_.”

“Um, any time you guys want to stop talking cryptically,” Alya said, “that’d be great.”

“Come on, Michelangelo,” Adrien grinned. “You’re just as important as us.”

“Dude, please, I’m totally Leonardo.”

“Sure thing, Mikey.”

Marinette lightly shoved him. “Act your age, _Chaton_.”

Adrien could basically see the gears turning in Alya’s brain as she tried to work it out. He could see her murmuring words like, ‘Toy turtle,’ ‘Turtle superhero,’ ‘time travel,’ ‘marriage.’ He could tell the exact moment she put it all together, because shock flickered onto her face and she took a deep breath and busted out with, “What THE FU—?”

Marinette jumped up and clamped a hand over her best friend’s mouth. “Alya! Shh!”

Alya wouldn’t be deterred; she pulled Marinette’s hand off her. “You’re Ladybug!” She whisper-yelled. “You’re _Ladybug_!” She turned to Adrien and Nino. “And you’re Chat Noir and the new guy!”

“Uh, Tortue Verte,” Nino supplied helpfully.

Alya looked thrilled and her resolve to keep her voice down didn’t last for long. “This is incredible!” She turned to Adrien. “You! I even said you would look like Chat Noir if you put the costume over your picture. Marinette said it was ridiculous. Wait. Marinette—Marinette said you guys were getting married! You guys are _married_! My two OTPs are canon!” Alya hugged Marinette delightedly. “Girl, was I the maid of honour? I better have been the maid of honour!”

“Your speech mortified me,” Marinette answered with a grin. “You even had a PowerPoint presentation to go with it.”

“You said you had years of dirt on us and were just waiting to tell the world what you’d gone through with our ridiculous, oblivious selves,” Adrien added.

“I’m incredible,” Alya, ever-modest, beamed.

The blogger was buzzing with excitement. She hauled them all in for a big group hug. “You’re superheroes! You’re from the future and you’re superheroes!”

“Well, I’m not,” Nino told her. “I only got my miraculous today—”

She hugged him. “That’s amazing! You kicked ass today!”

Caught up in her exuberance, Alya planted a kiss on Nino. Not expecting it, the DJ went stuff with surprise. Alya clearly hadn’t noticed what she’d done, too pleased by her discovery to realise that was technically her and Nino’s first kiss.

“Okay,” the blogger said, “so you guys are from the future? How do we get you guys back and what happened to our Mari and Adrien?”

“Uh, Alya?” Adrien said.

“Mmm?”

He gestured to where his best friend was in complete and utter shock.

Alya turned to Nino; there was a silence as she realised what she’d done. “Oh my god!”

As the blogger and the DJ simultaneously began freaking out, Adrien and Marinette just stood back and watched the chaos. The blogger had Nino’s shirt in her hands and was shaking him while the two of them just screamed at each other.

(So much for trying to keep the noise down.)

“If this is her reaction to superheroes and marriage, imagine her reaction to hearing about Emma,” he murmured to his wife.

“Let’s wait a bit until we drop the daughter bombshell on her,” Marinette whispered back.

Alya’s head snapped over to them, a flustered Nino momentarily forgotten. “The _what_?!”

The time travelling pair froze.

“Or we could do it now,” Adrien muttered.

“Yeah,” Marinette spoke up, “you see—”

“I sense an akuma!” Wayzz flew up out of Nino’s pocket and cut Marinette off.

Alya stared at the kwami in wonder. “Whoa, the little tiny turtle thing! It can talk?!” A beat later. “I _knew_ it wasn’t a toy, Nino!”

The secret out, Tikki and Plagg flew out of their hiding spots, too.

“The akuma, Volpina,” Wayzz said, interrupting whatever Alya was about to say about the other kwamis. “She’s returned! You must go to the Great Guardian!”

“To Master Fu?” Adrien looked confused. “Why wouldn’t we go and find Lila?”

Wayzz didn’t instantly reply, instead he turned to Alya, who was _still_ clutching a very flustered-looking Nino. “Because,” the turtle kwami eventually said, “it’s time for the _true_ Volpina to appear.”

* * *

 **PARIS  
** **2027**

Marinette was in love with Emma within moments of seeing her.

(Adrien could relate to the feeling).

For all her nervousness, his Lady had taken to meeting their daughter fairly well. She did better than he did, in any case: she didn’t faint.

Once they’d explained the situation to Tom and Sabine, they’d shown her were Emma was playing in their home. Tom, Sabine, Alya and Nino had given them a moment of privacy so they could see their daughter on their own.

“ _Maman_!” Emma had cried happily when Marinette and Adrien walked into the room. “Papa!”

She ran to her mother and lifted her arms up, clearly wanting to be held. After a small moment of hesitation, Marinette picked her up and held her on her hip. “H-hello, Emma,” his Lady greeted softly.

Unable to keep away from them, Adrien moved closer to gently wrap his arms around the pair of them. “How is my Little Lady?” He asked.

“Good!” His daughter chirped in response. “I played pwincesses wiv Grandpa!”

Adrien smiled. “Princesses, huh? I bet you and your _Maman_ play that all the time.”

Marinette blushed; Emma laughed.

“Silly Papa! I play it wiv _you_!”

Adrien blinked in surprised and then chuckled. Yeah, he could see himself doing that.

Marinette let out a sniff and he turned to see her blinking back tears. “My Lady?” He asked, alarmed to see her upset.

“She’s beautiful,” Marinette said in response, looking at their daughter in awe. “She’s beautiful.”

Adrien smiled and gently wiped away Marinette’s tears. “She gets that from her mother.”

“Is _Maman_ sad?” Emma asked, looking upset.

Marinette shook her head and held Emma tighter. “No, no, Buglet. _Maman_ is happy. _Maman_ is very, very happy.”

Emma smiled and snuggled into her mother. “Good!”

“She’s beautiful,” Marinette repeated, looking at him like she had no idea how they’d been lucky enough to have such a little angel.

Adrien lent in to press a soft kiss to Emma’s head and then another to Marinette’s lips. “She’s beautiful,” he agreed, “and she’s _ours_.”

“Can you even believe…?”

He shook his head. “No, but—I mean—god, Marinette, this is all I’ve ever wanted.”

“Really?” There was a hesitance to her voice; a small moment of vulnerability, as if she couldn’t believe she was the one Adrien wanted to spend his life with.

Adrien was determined that she know how much she meant to him. “A life with you and a happy family? Marinette, I’ve _dreamed_ about this. To find out it’s real, that it’s something waiting for us in our future, it incredible. Amazing. It’s—it’s—”

“Miraculous,” she said.

He grinned and leant in so their foreheads were touching. There was a moment of quiet contentment: just him, Marinette and Emma, together and happy.

“Yeah,” he eventually replied, “it’s miraculous."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here's part 2 of my 'I haven't updated in like eight months, I need to do something special' update.
> 
> Once again, let's thank wonderfulwizardofthozz for writing the previous chapter *applauds in my wifey's direction*
> 
> Now that I've posted these two chapters, I won't be posting much for a few weeks. To quote wonderfulwizardofthozz, I 'goofed' and wrote too much of other fanfics in too short amount of time and I overworked myself. Now my two internet mums, wonderfulwizardofthozz and livinglittlelie, are adamant I chill out a bit and only post once every two weeks. That said, I have an assignment coming up and I'm going overseas to meet livinglittlelie, so I won't be writing as much as usual. And I know I've said this before, but please go read their fics!!
> 
> Oh! I also set up a ko-fi account. So if you'd like to support my writing, please donate/buy me a coffee [here.](https://ko-fi.com/A0632C2Z) I feel weird for even bringing it up, but every little bit of support counts, right?
> 
> I realise I'm rambling, but I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'm sorry you had to wait so long to read an update. Please let me know what you thought in the comments and I'll see you in a few weeks.
> 
> Much love,  
> Leisey.


	11. Chapter 10

**PARIS**

**2016**

"Okay, okay, let me get this straight: I'm supposed to waltz in as another Volpina, confuse the hell out of her, and act like I've been doing it for years so people well and truly understand that she's a fake?"

"That is correct, young Alya."

"And I have to do it with the knowledge that you two—" she pointed to Marinette and Adrien— "are older versions of the people I fangirl over on a daily basis and you—" Alya pointed to Nino— "barely have a better idea about what's going on than I do?"

Adrien nodded. "Yep, pretty much."

Alya stared at the other four in the room, finally landing on Master Fu. "Why? Why me?"

"You have a heart that will not stop until it knows the truth. So, will you offer yourself and your help in this fight, or will you stay on the sidelines?"

Alya hesitated, clearly unsure of what she should do.

Marinette reached out and took her hand. "I'm sorry it's rushed like this. You originally had more time to think about it and mull it over, but we just don't have that kind of time with Father Time on the loose." She made a face. "Do you think maybe I could stop using the word 'time?'"

Adrien and Marinette spoke at the same time. "The answer may shock you!"

Alya was too overwhelmed by everything to join in their laughter, speaking quietly and firmly. "I'll do it. I'll go."

Adrien hugged her. "I knew you'd take the Ring to Mordor!"

Marinette rolled her eyes with a smile. "That line wasn't any funnier the first time, either."

Nino, quiet until this point, put a hand on Alya's knee. "You'll make an amazing Volpina. You already know more than you think. I mean, I think you know more than you think, but I guess I could be thinking wrong. I'm not always good at thinking."

Adrien chimed in. "I said this the first time, so I may as well say it again because _What's keeping a timeline consistent? I'll take Time Travel Problems for five hundred, Alex!_ " He cleared his throat. "You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think."

Nino's jaw dropped. "How does he do that?"

Marinette whispered to Nino, "You're gonna love future-Adrien. Current Adrien. I mean—I give up."

Alya, meanwhile, was wiping tears from her eyes. "I've wanted something like this from when I was little, but even with actual superheroes I never thought it would happen to me."

Master Fu smiled at her and offered her a box. "Let's meet your kwami, shall we?"

Alya and Adrien both fainted before she could take the box.

* * *

**PARIS**

**2027**

Marinette cuddled little Emma close to her chest while they all settled down for a serious conversation; Sabine left the room to take some things out of the ovens, but everybody else otherwise remained. Marinette took a deep breath, rubbing her daughter's back. "So, what's the plan? Wait, why are you all staring at me?"

Nino shrugged a shoulder. "Well, you're usually the one with the plan, being Ladybug and all. Guess it's what we're used to."

Marinette blinked. "I've known about this the least amount of time out of everybody here except for my parents. I can guarantee that I do _not_ have a plan right now. You know, other than the general 'Let's defeat Father Time and go back to the proper timeline!'"

Adrien cleared his throat. "Well, having known about this for a short while longer, we're not getting anything done by sitting and developing plans unless we come up with something that actually works. Splitting up didn't work, so we obviously have to do this together. You know, while still battling other akumas and praying we end up in the right timeline when it's all over." He smiled tiredly at the lot of them. "No offense, but I'm starting to miss all the easy ones back home."

Tom clapped Adrien on the shoulder. "I understand, son. This is sounding like a little bit more than you bargained for."

He nodded, that warm feeling filling him again.

Marinette kissed Emma on the top of her head, noting how her eyes were falling shut. "It's more than any of us bargained for."

Adrien nodded, his own plan formulating. "Let's take patrol shifts in rotating pairs. Sound good?" When everybody nodded, he continued, "Marinette, you and I will—"

Alya cleared her throat. "Not to interrupt, but you and Marinette should be on opposite sides of that. Nino and I have eleven extra years of life experience, and your miraculouses are too important to get caught together."

Marinette and Adrien looked at each other, despondent.

Nino laid his hand on Adrien's other shoulder. "I know you two want to spend time together since it's the only familiar thing you have right now, but you can do that after we defeat this guy. Alya's right. We need to use every advantage we have against this guy, and that means not putting you two together except to rest."

Marinette sighed. "I know you're right, but that doesn't make it any easier. I—"

A loud _boom_ echoed down the street, causing the lights to flicker.

The four heroes chorused, "Akuma," standing as one to go neutralize the problem.

Marinette handed the sleeping Emma to her father. "Tell _Maman_ I said goodbye and that I love her."

Tom wrapped her in a bone-crushing hug with his free arm. "I love you."

"I love you, too, Papa."

Less than a minute later, the four heroes were out on the street, trying to figure out what had happened.

"Something feels off," Tortue Verte murmured.

Chat Noir nodded. "I agree. My senses aren't as good as usual right now, but I think you're right."

It was Volpina who shouted, "Look out!" and shoved the other three out of the way.

Ladybug fell on top of Chat, who wheezed under her weight.

"Sorry!"

Chat shook his head. "Nothing we don't do every day at home."

"Shit, is that _Timebreaker?_ " Tortue Verte pointed at the tiny figure. "How do we have _two_ time-based akumas out right now?"

Chat shook his head. "I'm really beginning to hate Father Time, you know."

Volpina pointed in the opposite direction. "You mean that guy over there?"

" _Shit_."

Ladybug shook her head. "We need a plan."

Chat grabbed her hand. "We'll have to use our special abilities."

"I can only use Oblivion on one of them. Who should I pick?"

Tortue pressed his lips together. "If we draw them in close enough, I can use Limbo to get the skate and you can get the watch from Father Time. Ladybug, can you cleanse two at once?"

"Well, let's find out."

"Chat, I need you with me. I need you to trip her in case something goes wrong."

"Done."

Ladybug and Volpina made eye contact and nodded. Eleven years wouldn't separate their friendship, and it definitely wouldn't erase their ability to read each other's thoughts.

"Everybody ready?" Ladybug asked.

The rest of them nodded.

"Then let's go get 'em and let's go home!"

They all turned off in their pairs and started jogging.

When she was close enough, she yelled, "Looks like your sand has run out, Father Time!"

Volpina snorted. "Oh, I missed those cheesy lines from you."

Ladybug rolled her eyes. "Only because they're from me."

They missed when he disappeared from view. Then, Father Time's laugh started echoing all around them, but he remained invisible.

The two women went back-to-back, eyes searching everywhere until he appeared just a little too close for comfort.

Ladybug screamed, "Volpina, now!"

A few things happened at once.

Volpina cried, "Oblivion!" and Father Time started to shoot at them, which caused Ladybug to grab Volpina's arm so she could pull her out of the way. Meanwhile, Chat and Tortue fist-bumped, having gotten the necessary rollerblade. Tortue's eyes went wide when he saw what was happening to their wives.

" _Alya!_ "

Ladybug was too slow, and Volpina's shoulder got clipped by Father Time's energy ray, making her use Oblivion on Ladybug instead of her intended target before she succumbed to the ray's effects. And, because only Volpina's shoulder got clipped, Chat Noir was still in the path of the energy ray. Chat swore under his breath when he realized it was too late to do anything else and let the ray hit him; he fell like a sack of rotten camembert.

Father Time snickered and disappeared, leaving Tortue Verte effectively alone with his fallen comrades and an uncleansed akuma.

* * *

**PARIS**

**2073**

"My father is _still_ the Papillion and we're _how old?_ "

* * *

**PARIS**

**2016**

Adrien rubbed his head, searching for anything he recognized in the room. "M-Master Fu?"

Master Fu nodded at him. "When are you from, dear cat?"

Adrien groaned and sat up. "2073. Why, what's happened?" His face fell. "Wait, _Master Fu?_ You've been dead for years!" He scrambled backwards, recognizing a still-sleeping Alya. "This is an akuma problem, isn't it?" He stretched, noticing how much energy he had and how unwrinkled his hand appeared. "Okay, when I said I wanted to be fifteen again, this isn't how I imagined it. Master Fu, can you fill me in on the details?"

Master Fu gave him a brief explanation and wondered aloud where (or, rather, _when_ ) Adrien's younger selves ended up.

Alya chose that moment to sit up, an ache working its way into her forehead. "Ugh, is this what it's like with you people and your time travel?" She yawned. "Hey, Adrien. Hey, Master Fu."

"It's been so long since I've seen you like this, Al. It's kind of freaking me out."

"You and me both. Wait, which Adrien _are_ you?"

"I'm from 2073. I wish I could tell you where the other me's are, but I honestly don't know."

Master Fu cleared his throat. "There is little time. Marinette and Nino are out fighting an old akuma, and they require assistance immediately." He finally handed the box to Alya. "This belongs to you."

Alya opened it and put the necklace on, cuddling her kwami to her cheek for a brief moment.

Adrien cleared his throat. "Ready, Alya?"

"As I'll ever be. Kupii!"

"Plagg!"

" _Transformez-moi!_ "

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyyyyyyy, it's wonderfulwizardofthozz again, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter! ~~It totally hasn't been almost a year since we last updated this one, no way~~ but for real, many thanks to my wifey for trusting me with this fic, and you should definitely keep reading her stuff because she's wonderful and amazing. We'll see you in the next chapter!
> 
> xoxo -wwot


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